I may sound like an amateur psychologist when I say that most people do not know who they really are. I am not, however, referring to any kind of psychological state, but, rather, to the part of our being that is truly important. Most people only view themselves physically. They only consider what the Bible refers to as the outward man, but there is more to us than just that.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (ESV)
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us that there are three parts to our being—body, soul, and spirit. A good way to illustrate the makeup of man is by comparing us to electrical light. You have the light bulb, the electrical current, and the resulting light. In the analogy, the light bulb is the body, the electrical current is the spirit, and the resulting light is the soul. Scripturally speaking, we know from James that the body without the spirit is dead just like a light bulb without the electrical current (James 2:26). When the current enters the bulb, you have light. When the spirit enters the body, you have life. That life is the soul of man. Genesis 2:7 tells when God created man, He formed him of the dust of the ground and then, “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” From this standpoint, the soul simply refers to the natural life of the body.
The word “spirit” in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 is used by Paul to denote the part of our being that is eternal. Barnes has this to say about it.
“The word here rendered spirit (πνεῦμα) refers to the intellectual or higher nature of man; that which is the seat of reason, of conscience, and of responsibility. This is immortal. It has no necessary connection with the body, as animal life or the psyche (ψυχὴ) has, and consequently will be unaffected by death” (Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament).
The confusion about the words soul and spirit is caused by their interchangeable use in the Bible. Nevertheless, whichever English word is used, the text will usually make it clear if it is referring to just the natural life we have in common with animals or the immortal part of our being. What is important in this blog is that it is the eternal part of our makeup that is the real us. The Bible refers to this as the inner man.
2 Corinthians 4:16 (NKJV)
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
The inward man is the real you. We pay most of our attention to the outward man. We worry about how we look. We worry about how we are going to take care of the outward body. We worry about what others think about our outward selves, all while ignoring what is best for the inner man.
Do you spend most of your time taking care of the body while neglecting your soul? That is common among men. As Christians, we should know better. While we obviously are going to take care of our bodies, that is, our outward selves, we must not neglect the well-being of our souls. Taking care of the outward man will help us live now. Taking care of the inner man will help us live forever.
Jesus understood what was really important when He was tempted by the devil to turn stones into bread to satisfy His hunger.
Matthew 4:3-4 (NKJV)
3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ “
The Word of God feeds and sustains the soul. When we know God’s Word and live by it, we are taking care of the most important part of our being. Take care of the real you and God will take care of the rest.
As you wind down for the night, think about these things.