Becoming Whole - A 7 Day DevotionalSample

 WHAT IS A HUMAN BEING?

No single Bible verse outlines precisely what it means to be human. Through the centuries, therefore, Christians have looked to the Scriptures as a whole to discern the nature of this noble creature. Understanding what it means to be human, though not the easiest of tasks, matters for what we do when a woman walks into our church, asking for help with her electric bill. To truly help her, we need to understand how God made her.

The Human Being as Body and Soul/Heart

According to Scripture, our bodies really matter, but we are not merely physical objects. There’s something more to humans than simply mixing together oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus.  For Christians, the word soul has often been used to signify this something more than the physical. The Bible indicates that humans continue to exist even beyond the experience of physical death (Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4–5; Rom. 8:35–39; Rev. 20:4). When a person dies, their body may be lying on a bed before us, but we sense they are no longer with us. Their life or soul is gone. That is partly why we ache so deeply when loved ones take their last breath. Their bodies are still with us, but they are no longer present.

Highlighting the soul should never devalue our bodies but rather help us present a richer and truer picture of human existence. The Bible presents a holistic view of being human.

While it’s helpful to distinguish between the body and soul, we should avoid separating them. A key Hebrew word (nephesh) commonly translated as “soul” literally means “throat” or “neck.” This nephesh represents our life, our very being. Interestingly, the Bible uses earthy language in reference to our souls. Why? Because you can’t easily separate the body and soul. Similarly, the Hebrew word leb, which the Bible often uses to refer to the inner human being,   is commonly translated as “heart,” a physical organ! The body and soul are not easily disentangled in Scripture.

This has huge implications for helping the poor. People are whole people. So, partial solutions that address either the body or the soul will not work as well as solutions that address both the body and soul. The effectiveness of an after-school tutoring program for low-income children might be hindered if the children are so hungry that they cannot pay attention to the lesson. And a job training program that increases a husband’s income and physical well-being without addressing his spiritual condition could simply create a workaholic whose mental health deteriorates over time. The body and soul are highly interconnected. In fact, they aren’t really two different things, but refer to two aspects of one person. And together, these two aspects capture the fullness of the whole being.

Theologians have sometimes found it helpful to speak of three facets of the soul: the mind, affections, and will:

·       The mind points primarily to our understanding or rationality;

·       The affections focus our attention on the importance of desire, emotion, and longings;

·       The will highlights the importance of human agency, what we decide to do or not to do.

While distinguishing between these three aspects can be useful, they should not be thought of as distinctly separate components of the soul in the way that the tires, brakes, and clutch are different components of a car. Rather, the mind, affections, and will are different characteristics of one whole human soul, which is itself deeply integrated with the body. Sadly, sometimes churches or denominations distinguish too sharply between these features, pitting them against one another in problematic ways. For example, one church values the mind, while another highlights the power of emotions; one community concentrates on stimulating the will to action, while another emphasizes emotional self-control; one denomination emphasizes material prosperity,  while  the  other  acts as though only our souls matter. But we should never pretend that only one aspect of the human person is important. The Bible assumes that all aspects of the human being are highly important and deeply integrated, and so should we.

In fact, the three features of the soul are so interrelated that the Bible uses the word heart (leb) to describe all of them. In Scripture, heart can refer to our minds as well as our emotions, to our actions as well as our desires. We intuitively know this; that’s why we often ask about the condition of people’s “hearts.” And when we do, we aren’t asking about a particular organ in their bodies. Rather, we’re asking, “How are you doing? What are your deepest longings and fears? How is your life going? How is your attitude toward God? How are you feeling?” Normally, these questions are concerned not just with people’s emotional state, but with the very essence of their being. The simple word heart takes us to the center of the human creature.

Hence, it’s not surprising that Scripture commands us to pay special attention to the state of our hearts: “Above all else, guard your heart [leb], for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23; see also Matt. 12:35). This verse doesn’t merely state that we should guard our hearts so we can go to heaven someday, but that everything we do in this world—the way that we work, eat, play, date, raise kids, vote, spend, give—flows from our hearts. Whatever our heart loves most— the thing that commands the ultimate allegiance of our minds, affections, and will—determines our actions. Just as love is at the heart of the triune God, so love is at the heart of human beings.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. What do you believe it means to be “human”?  
2. Why is it important that the Hebrew word for soul is rooted in “earthy” language?
3. If love determines our actions, how does that change the way we view human change?