I am a Soul

C.S. Lewis once said, “I do not have a soul. I am a soul, I have a body.”

I read this quote the other day while browsing through a long list of quotes by Lewis who is arguably the greatest apologist of the Twentieth century. I loved it. I soaked it in. What's more, the simple truth behind this statement came as quite a shock to me and changed the way I thought about a few things. As is often the case, one thing can affect many others.

The very idea that we are not a body with a soul, but a soul with a body changes so much. If I could focus on that, I would care so much less about my outer appearance and focus much more on so many of the things that Christ tells us about our souls. It is His dwelling place. It is the Temple. It is who we are which encompasses our reasoning minds, emotions, memories, personality traits, character and all the other things that make up all of the incredibly unique things that make us individual creations of God. What makes it better is that we take the very best of us to Heaven. In that day that we get called from this earthly shell, we get to go home and literally be made perfect. Perfect in that we get a new body and perfect in that the bad things about us, those little idiosyncrasies that keep us from being the child of God we really want to be will be wiped away. While our earthly shell is discarded, our soul (which is who we really are anyway) is just made better. We get to be clothed in our heavenly body and receive instead "a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven." It's more than exciting to know that I am more than a body that withers and fades with time and disease. I am a soul waiting to return to my heavenly home where I will receive a perfect body. Woo Hoo! No more weight watchers, chemotherapy, or botox!

2 Corinthians 5:5-8 "Now the one who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a first installment. So we are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yet we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord."

There's so many nuggets of truth in the Bible and it seems each time I read I am reminded of some lyrics from a band named Disciple:

"Cause Lord if You showed me a thousand things
Brand new about You everyday
I still would never see the fullness of Your glory
Lord if You gave me a thousand years
To try and count up all the ways
That You have shown to me
That You are just not enough
You are too much" A Thousand Things