How are you? Being British, the correct answer is always: “Fine, thank you very much.” No, how are you? “Well, I had the ’flu last month, but I’m doing better now, thanks.” You look a bit low. “Well, it’s sad, my aunt died last week and it was a shock.” And how are you spiritually? “I’m struggling, actually…”
There is our physical health, our mental health or emotional state, and then there is our spiritual health. Different labels for different and distinct areas of life. It may come as a surprise, then, to discover that the Scriptures describe us holistically: we are physical and psychological and spiritual beings. There are different aspects to our life (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) but all aspects are indissolubly and inseparably linked.
We like to distinguish our physical body from our spiritual life (or “soul”), but the New Testament uses physical and spiritual life interchangeably. Matthew 20v28 reads literally “… the Son of Man came … to give His soul as a ransom for many”. Barnabas and Paul risked their souls for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 15v26). When Jesus died on the cross, He saved not only our “spiritual lives” but all of us, body and soul – rising from the dead to secure our hope of bodily resurrection from the dead.
We are in a battle
We are in a battle! We see that in a literal and physical way with the recent brutality of the …