There is a particular holiday treat at Starbucks this time of year, and it is a great way to get in 500 calories if that’s what you’re looking to do. The Pumpkin Scone provides nearly one-quarter of all your daily required calories in one fell swoop. Convenient, relatively cheap, and laden with sugary sweetness; not many would argue with that. One calorie isn’t the same as another however.
We never know for sure how or when God is going to intercept us along our journey, and when He does it’s often much different than we’d expect. I suppose it has everything to do with the fact His ways and thoughts are so much better than ours. The lyrics “so much better Your way” are currently resonating with me. What I do know is this, God deeply desires to connect with us, He is constantly pursuing us, and He can be as creative as He wishes in His approach with us.
God is using CrossFit to unfold a new chapter in my life’s story with Him. If you are not aware, CrossFit is an approach to fitness that uses olympic lifting, gymnastics, and cardiovascular conditioning in all sorts of combinations to create an effective fitness program. I have not always been an advocate for CrossFit. In fact, as a group fitness instructor I used to tell people not to do CrossFit! I am singing a new song after taking on a personal challenge of doing 90 consecutive crossfit workouts (6 days a week). God has been teaching me spiritual lessons that apply to many areas of life. As I share them here I pray they empower you to move forward in what God has for you.
Some people are turned off by the word perfection. I can see where they are coming from, as striving for perfection is oft associated with stress, burnout, and pipe dreaming. What happens then, when Jesus uses this very word to describe God, then aims it at us saying “you are to be perfect like him.”? Where do we even begin with a challenge like this?
This series is titled Spirit Soul Body, not Body Soul Spirit for a reason. It’s just a matter of personal preference. I feel as though Spirit needs to come first and Body last. Not that our bodies are worthless, but going back to the car analogy from our previous post, this body is just the vehicle that houses our Spirit and Soul while we’re here on Earth. While maintaining your vehicle is crucial, especially if you want to get around comfortably and reliably, its occupants are far more valuable.
Is being overly emotional a bad thing? Let’s find out in our final of three posts breaking down the different areas of our soul. Made up of our mind, our will, and our emotions, each are powerful ways we can be led of the spirit. On the flip side, as with many things, these can also be areas where our soul leads over our spirit; not a good thing.
If this is your first time here, welcome! We encourage you to go back and read Take Captive Every Thought to learn about our mind, and then The Beautiful Gift of Choice whose focus is on our will. Then you’ll be all caught up with this mini-series within a series.
If you have been following along we’ve been searching out how to be led by the spirit in our entire being. Spirit, soul and body. Our soul is made of our mind, will, and emotions. Last week we looked at how to be led of the spirit in our mind, i.e. our thoughts. Today we are moving on to our will; what it is and how we know if our spirit is leading over it.
We have been recognizing that we are created as three part beings, spirit, soul and body. I cringe to put it in such crude and simple terms, but if our body was the car our soul would be the driver behind the wheel, stepping on the gas and brake. Our spirit would be the part of us that looks over at the passenger seat, asking Holy Spirit where He wants to go explore. So in the car ride of your life, who is calling the shots?
I am beginning to realize God speaks to me through my physical body; so many spiritual lessons learned through physical action. Ironically, it has taken me this long to understand something God has been doing my entire life. Years ago I was struggling, beating myself up and pretty much stuck in a funk; anyone else find themselves in this place?
Have you ever heard one of those object lessons that uses a three-legged stool as its example? Everything from team building to politics, finances to psychology has been explained using the humble three-legged stool.
The example seems so worn out. Surely a more interesting analogy can be found to describe anything with three parts. Then again, its power and simplicity in illustrating a point is what makes it so common. Like steering wheels, there’s a reason every car has one; it gets the job done better than anything else.