“Act ahead of your feelings and trust that one day your feelings will match your convictions.” Henri Nouwen

Last time we talked about the importance of taking control of our souls and our bodies in these present tumultuous and tantalizing times. Two passages, one from Jesus and another from Paul reinforce our need to get a hold of ourselves:

“By your endurance you will gain [control of] your souls.” (Luke 21:19)“Each of you should learn to control your own body[ in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans who do not know God.” (1 Thessalonians 4:4)

But there’s yet another piece to image-bearing Jesus-inhabited humans that comes into play. This part of us is deeper than our bodies and even of our souls. Though intangible to the touch and invisible to the eye, it’s our most important part. More than that, it’s the essence of what we are as humans indwelt with the Spirit.

One chapter later in the Thessalonian letter Paul refers to this third core part of us: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). There it is. We’re not merely a body and a soul. We have a spirit. More accurately, we are a spirit with a soul and body as opposed to a soul and body with a spirit.

It’s true that sometimes the soul and the human spirit are used interchangeably in Scripture. But when biblical authors, like Paul in this case, want to be specific about their difference, they distinguish between them.

Consider your spirit as the operating system, your soul (intellect, emotion, and will) as software, and your body as hardware. Each part, though distinct, works together with the others in order for us to be “sanctified through and through,” which I assume is something we Christians all want. Yes?

Before we received Jesus our spirit was vacant so to speak. The power was turned off. Darkness prevailed until Jesus came and turned on the light. When you came to Jesus, he came into you. Your spirit is no longer vacant but full of God. He lives in you to live His sweet life in and through you!

“… you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3)“… it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12-13)

A little girl said, “Mommy, isn’t God bigger than us?” Of course.

“And doesn’t he live inside us?” Yes.

“Well, then, wouldn’t he show through?”

That’s exactly what he wants to do––show through us!

Have you noticed that your body and your spirit send conflicting “orders”? It’s your soul that receives both sets of instructions and makes the decisions which to follow. The way you were designed to work is when your spirit commands your soul, and your soul then sends the command to your body, and your body carries it out. In other words, instead of barking its own orders, our body needs to learn to take its orders from our soul, which takes its orders from the Holy Spirit who resides in the command center of our spirit.

Some glad day we’ll have bodies that seamlessly collaborate with our spirit. They’re called “spiritual bodies” (1 Corinthians 15:14; Philippians 3:21). But for now, we’ll have to make do with the bodies that we have and remind ourselves every day to take our lead from our Spirit-infused spirit.*

Acting otherwise, that is, when we let our body issues all the orders, it’s called being “carnal,” “fleshly,” or “worldly” (1 Corinthians 3:1, 3). Equally as unhealthy is the one who is led around by their soul, that intermediate part. Let’s call that being “soulish.” This is when we’re dominated by our mind, emotions and / or will, rather than by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14; James 3:15; Jude 1:19).

It seems to me that a lot of Christians who consider themselves spiritual are in fact more soulish. They’re incited more by their own opinions, emotions, and willfulness than by the Spirit himself. **

It’s the “spiritual” person that learns to win mastery over their souls and bodies. Unfortunately, the term spiritual is tossed around sloppily and imprecisely these days among both non-Christians and Christians. “I’m a spiritual person,” they say, either to distinguish themselves from being “religious” or from being “secular.” From a biblical vantage point, being a spiritual person doesn’t mean you believe in something somewhere. Furthermore, you don’t necessarily qualify for being spiritual just because you believe in the God of the Bible, pray, and go to church.

Paul was sad to have to consider his Corinthian brothers and sisters not as spiritual people. Instead they acted like “ordinary people,” i.e., worldly and immature (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). They had spiritual gifts and spoke in a spiritual language, but they weren’t actually spiritual people. Hmm.

Calling Jesus “Lord,” prophesying, driving out demons, and performing miracles (all of which sound pretty spiritual, don’t you think?) doesn’t make you spiritual either (Matthew 24:21-23). A spiritual person is a one whose spirit is full of the Holy Spirit and is learning how to control both soul and body for the love of God.

Remember those things called the “fruit of the Spirit”? There’s one called “self-control,” which is a terrible translation of the Greek term, which more literally means “inner strength.” Those Christ-like characteristics are cultivated by the Spirit who abides in our spirit, and not by the self. From within us, the Spirit provides more than enough strength to do what’s right and resist what’s wrong.

This brings us back to where we began:

“By your endurance you will gain [control of] your souls.” (Luke 21:19)“Each of you should learn to control your own body[ in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans who do not know God.” (1 Thessalonians 4:4)

It’s the spirit-centered, Spirit-filled, i.e., spiritual person, that can, as we talked about in Part 1, bridle the body and control the soul. This is how we get a hold of ourselves in tumultuous and tantalizing times!

*For a deeper dive into the role of the human spirit, see this: https://barneywiget.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/foundations_101_chapter2.pdf ]

**For a deeper dive into the difference between the spirit and soul , see this: https://barneywiget.com/2017/08/29/how-deep-is-your-deep-avoiding-superficial-spirituality-part-5/