My former Sunday school teacher and good friend Terry Powell just completed another book (He must Increase I must Decrease) and it is excellent. I was reading it last night and came across a quote by C.S. Lewis that really struck me. It refers to a common expression, (that most of us have heard thousands of times) that we have a spirit. “You don’t have a spirit.” Says Lewis, “you ARE a spirit, you HAVE a body.
Hmmm . . .
How true that is, but how few of us think of it in such terms. We only inhabit this body some 79.9 years on average; however it dominates our thinking as does our life in this temporary place. Our spirits are eternal and will live on forever and yet many of us don’t think of it in such terms.
The Bible teaches in Psalm 90:12 – Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. There are plenty of references that speak to this issue, Psalm 78:39 – He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. And James 4:14 – Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
We feed and care for our bodies and try our utmost to maintain good health, but what about the spirit? It is odd how we sometimes ignore it. We feed our spirts by Bible study and yet statistics show that most don’t ever open their Bibles much less study it. We remain healthy by avoiding sin and yet one look around our country and our beautiful planet and we are appalled by the increasing vileness of rampant sin.
Why not spend some time today meditating about your spirit. The flesh will fade away, get sick, and die, but the spirit will never be destroyed. It will reside in heaven or hell and paradoxically, this little stint on earth determines that destiny. The Bible states in 2 Cor. 6:2 – Today is the day of salvation. Don’t wait! Begin following the Lord today and avoid much sorrow.
Psalm 90:10
Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
October 6, 2015 – Click here to listen