Body and Soul

I was asked recently by one of my children what I thought he would be like if he had a different biological father or mother.  Of course this seems like a sensible enough question except for one misconception.  We don't exist as a person outside the body we have been given. The soul came into the man after the body was formed and not before.  Adam became a living soul or nephesh after the Lord breathed into the body the breath of life.  Before that, there was no "soul" of Adam.   There is no scriptural evidence for baby souls or incubating souls waiting somewhere for God to distribute into bodies.  Rather what we have is that the physical body initiates the birth of the soul.  Thus when the body is formed, the soul comes into place, is breathed into it by God.  The body is picked out and then the soul is created.  When the egg is fertilized by the sperm, it is a mystical moment of conception, not just with the forming of the body but the initiation of the soul as God puts life into place.  We don't exist before the body comes to be but when we are brought to life, we are from the outset God's life.  He breathes into the body its being, its soul.  David talked about the work God did knitting him together within his mother's womb and creating him stitch by stitch as it were.  But moving down just a bit in Psalm 139 to verse 16, we come to the most interesting part of this .  When God saw us in His mind before we were even formed, our days were already established; they were written in His book.  It is as if out moments are a part of our DNA; the days we have written even within our body.  But take this one step further.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 indicates that our bodies also contain eternity in them; the heart is the receptacle of forever.  The body is no mere addendum to the soul...and the soul is not as U2 implies stranded in "some skin and bones".  The body and soul are intertwined as one, each a part of the whole God established when He decided to create good.  The body is either the whipping post or idol of humanist thinking.  It must be neither.  It is created by the Creator to establish the person Christ died to save. You are peculiar in the best sense of the word.  Made by God, particular to God, defined by God, known by God, loved by God.

The miracles of Scripture were never merely a deliverance from difficulty but they always were a sign of God near.  The blind man did not find it smooth sailing after he was given sight; his parents were cast out of the synagogue and his former blindness ridiculed.  Have we come to the point where all we want is a miracle but not the God who shadows it?  If your bill got paid somehow, would you let God consecrate your lust?  If your girl loved you, would you give yourself to holiness?  If your mind became clear and you could suddenly see the big idea, would you bury your clock as you prayed?  If you steered clear of the wreck or your cancer faded, would you give a true pagan your unmitigated faith?  How would you react to a bona fide miracle; an answer to prayer too close to God to be a coincidence?  Would you shake it off...would you take note of it...would you pause in awe of the God who saved you?  What sort of miracle do you need to notice GOD?  Is the Scripture enough for you to love Him and watch for His sway in the moments you have?  I have often wondered how it was possible that nine of the ten lepers gave no notice of Jesus once they got out of sight of Him and His Word.  Perhaps though, given what we see of ourselves and those about us, the biggest miracle of that day was the pivot one leper made when he gazed upon his skin and came running back to Jesus in awe of the Light that was no longer mere shadow.  Each day I make a record of ten to twenty things for which I am thankful God gave me the past day.  I have to do this or else I will go the full twenty-four hours and run the risk of missing the extraordinary gift of moments when Christ drew near to me.