The You Beneath Your Skin - The Real You

When I was in college I did a little writing and one of the things I wrote was a short poem that I can't recall verbatim but the gist of it was this:  If you remove your arms you are still you and if you remove your legs you are still you.  The "you" lives beneath all of the tissues, sinews, bones, and fluids that you probably think of as "you". Even as the body is washed away the "you" continues to exist.  I want to explore this today because I had a powerful moment yesterday with a man who has become very dear to my heart.

Pastor Jeffery Stokes is an eighty year old, African American, Pentecostal preacher who I met in a rescue mission about two years ago.  He was sharing the Good News with a couple hundred people who needed some good news and I was there because God had led me there, apparently because he wanted us to meet.  Pastor Stokes is affectionately known as "Papa" and it fits well because he calls me "son" and somehow he and I, who are from opposite sides of the tracks, have come to be family.

Papa's body is a bit tired,  his joints a bit sore, his hearing is impaired, his pill box is overflowing, and yesterday he was downcast.  Now usually I go to Papa's house to find encouragement and to be ministered to but yesterday we did a little role reversal.  His thoughts were a bit fixed on his body which is easy to do especially when it aches and pains but God reminded me of the little poem I wrote twenty five years ago.  I laid hands on "Papa" and prayed over him then we moved from the couch to the dining room table and got into the Word. We were reminded that this body we inhabit is only a shell or a tent for the spirit that is the real us.

Paul tells us to, "fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

Paul and Peter both spoke of their bodies as tents and temporary dwelling places (See 2 Corinthians 5 and 2 Peter 1)

A couple days ago there was a man who received a face transplant and had been photographed by the media.  Now when he looks in the mirror he sees a part of someone else's tent but he is still the same person.  The "you" resides under the skin you see.  Papa is the same Papa despite the failing of his tent.  Papa needed to be reminded that he was just as young and just as vibrant in his spirit as he was when he was thirty and that God wasn't finished with him until he called him home (away from the body).  Papa smiled, sat up a bit taller, and his spirit showed clearly through his tired eyes.  We remembered Paul's words again, "We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it."

The Bible talks about the body, soul, and spirit as distinctly different and I think we need to be reminded of this continually so that we can maintain the proper focus and I also think it will heal many of our emotional hurts.

You have a temporary, physical, tangible body that houses the real "you". It may be black, white, yellow, tan, tall, short, healthy, sick, young, old, attractive, unattractive, but make no mistake, it is not the "you".  The you is spiritual.  It is an eternal being (created but made to  live forever going forward).  Angels are spirit. God is spirit.  The "you" under your flesh is spirit.  

Your soul is voice inside your head.  It is the emotions, the intellect, the will.  It is the part that ponders, discerns, and the part that sins.  It is also the part that worships.

The Psalms talk of souls weary with sorrow and fainting with hunger for salvation. Ezekiel tells us that "the soul that sins will die" and Jesus told his disciples not to be afraid of those who can kill the body but to fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in Hell.

Here is the point:  You may be struggling with your body.  Maybe it's heath. Maybe it's an issue with your body image. Maybe you look in the mirror and see someone who is overweight, has poor complexion, or doesn't look like the guys or girls in People magazine. Maybe you are struggling with sexual orientation and you are trying to change the face of the tent. Regardless of the struggle, the "you" will carry on long after your body fails and decays.  It is the spirit/soul part of you that Jesus came to redeem. The Bible tells us that, before we receive salvation through faith in Jesus, our spirits are "dead in trespasses and sins".  When we are "Born again" our spirits are made alive.  There is a new life that happens when God's Spirit lives inside of us with our spirits. 

Peace,


David