As It Is Well With Your Soul

“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.” (3 John 2, ESV)

            This morning as I read this verse I was stone-cold stopped by the last phrase: ‘as it goes well with your soul.’ These past months have been devastating to my soul. The absence of face-to-face meetings, the sudden clearing of my calendar, the abrupt change to my summer routine – no Vacation Bible School, no camps at Fir Point Bible Camp – have confounded my soul.

            This week I began a new round of physical therapy for some arthritis pain. I am diligent to do the exercises, to attend the therapy sessions. I am diligent in following the recommendation of my family care physician and the therapist. All in the hope that the pain that has inhibited me from walking will somehow disappear.

            But what about my soul? Is it well? I don’t think it’s as well as it should be. My guess is many of you (all 3-4 who read this [yes, sarcasm]) are in the same place. We spend tons of time and money on trying to recapture the physical freedoms of our younger years, while we occasionally glimpse into our soul.

            Let me suggest that we reverse the priority. Take care of your soul, then take care of the body. Spend time looking inward by evaluating your heart by standards such as those Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). Ask yourself if the blessings Paul enumerates in Ephesians 1:3-14 are really yours? Make time to find other believers who can walk alongside you, ask the hard questions about your soul.

            I can’t be the only one whose soul needs tender loving care after these months of  the relentless invasion of a virus still a mystery to many.