Epiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
January 16, 2015

 Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’ But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. —1 Corinthians 6:16-20

I just finished reading Soul Keeping by John Ortberg. He envisions a representation of us humans as being a series of circles. The center most circle is the Will. It is surrounded by the circle of the Mind, than the circle of the Body, and finally the circle that holds it all together, the Soul. While I am still playing with this example in my own thoughts, it makes sense. I, however, don’t think most of us function as if the Soul were the primary circle in our lives. For some the Will would be the outer boundary of who we are and the Soul would be the inner most core.

The Soul is that part of are being that is our very essence, who we really are. How we treat each segment of our being is important to all the other segments. When our Will runs amuck our Minds, Bodies, and Souls are impacted and so it goes with each part.

Paul is perhaps suggesting in our scripture today that the Soul is the part of us that relates most closely to God. It is the home of the Holy Spirit. We need to take good care of it as we need to take good care our Bodies and Minds. If we take good care of all three our Wills might become a source of strength for our total being rather than an enemy battling for supremacy. It is something to think about.

Prayer: Lord, we pray that in whatever construct we perceive ourselves in relationship to you that your will is our will and our souls are one with you. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.