Reaching Wholeness
Man was created by God in his own image.
Genesis 1:26 “God said , let us make man in our image”
1 Thessalonians 5:23 “I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”
Hebrews 4:12 “ For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow (body), and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
God gave us a perfect body through which we are able to relate or interact with the physical word. We can relate with it throughout our five senses; what we see around us, the things that we can touch, the things that we taste, our senses of smell, and everything that we can hear.
It is by our body that we function. It’s composed of organs and cells which consists of protein carbohydrates and fats. Our body contains our nervous system and the brain.
Psalm 139:14 says that “you are fearfully and wonderfully made.”
However, after the fall , the body died, its days became numbered, and illness became part of it. Pain and physical death enter man’s body. They would experience pain and illness even though that was not in God’s original plan.
Now we need to be aware of our limitations and take care of our bodies. Physical health is important so that we can function and do the things God would want us to do with our body.
Being physically active, eating well, getting enough sleep and being addiction free are some of the more important things we ought to do to care for our bodies.
We also need to believe in the power of healing from Jesus. He is the same as before, now and forever. We can read about the many miraculous healing of Jesus in the gospels. Well Jesus can also heal you today.
Psalm 139:14 says that “you are fearfully and wonderfully made.”
Our Soul
Our soul is what gives us our personality and it’s through our soul that we live out our relationship with other people and with ourselves.
Our soul likely has three major components — our mind, will and emotions.
Our mind has a conscious part and a subconscious part. The conscious mind is where we do our thinking and reasoning. The subconscious mind is where we hold our deep beliefs and our attitudes.
It’s also where we have our feelings, our emotions and retain our memories.
Our will is what gives us the ability to make choices.
Through a very complex way, our mind, our will and our emotions are connected to the body through our endocrine, nervous and immune systems.
Gen. 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living soul”
Soul
It’s also important to care for our soul, to manage our emotions the best we can, to monitor our thinking patterns and to make healthy choices. Paul said that Our mindset and our thinking patterns can truly and radically transform us.
The Bible holds the keys to being whole and living well. We must not only understand God’s principles, we must live them to be whole.
Rom. 12:2 “Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”
Our spirit
It’s in our spirit that we have meaning and purpose in life. Our spirit enables us to love one another, ourselves and God. It’s through our spirit that we have communion and fellowship with God. Our spirit gives us intuition between right and wrong.
Our spiritual health will have a significant impact on our emotional health which will have a major influence on our physical health.
John 3:6 “ That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”
Spirit
Our spirit must be well because this aspect of us is our core. It is the spirit of man that gives him real life. We live out this life and interact with the physical realm with the five senses of our body. And it is deep in our soul that our emotions and our minds impact our choices and subsequent physical behavior. Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being”
Reaching Wholeness
In order to reach wholeness we need to start by accepting Jesus as our Savior. It is only the Holy Spirit that can transform us after it begins to live inside us. Our spirit begins to take on the attributes of the Holy Spirit.
This new nature in Christ will begin to have an impact on our soul. Our thought patterns will become different. In turn, we would radically change many of our emotions and how we react to life circumstances.
If we follow God’s principles, that will affect our choices and our behaviors will become more and more in line with how God wants us to live. This is the process of sanctification. This is how we become a whole person in spirit, soul and body.
It is very important that we understand that we can not achieve the type of transformation that would bring wholeness in our own strength, we can only do it in his power.
Our spirit, soul and body are constantly interacting together, as a whole, as a complete person. That’s the way God designed us.