Naturally, Christians and most people probably think of themselves primarily from a physical perspective. After all, we are “flesh and blood” (Matthew 16:17; 1 Corinthians 16:15), and we reside in a physical world in which worldly people also live. Of course, as God’s children (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1), Christians are called upon not to adopt the ways of world. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2 NKJV). “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:15–16).
Since we are ourselves physical creatures (Genesis 3:19), not living like worldly people proves to be a great challenge. When Christians succeed in ‘overcoming the world’ (John 16:33; 1 John 5:4), only then, can they “shine as lights in the world.” “…You may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). Jesus acknowledged the awkwardness of His disciples necessarily living in the world without succumbing to its allurements. “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:14–16). By extension, likewise, Christians face the same dilemmas.
Although we are part of the physical, created world, we are far different from plants, animals and rocks, for instance. Almighty God placed within each member of the human population a soul or a spirit; He did this, first, with Adam. “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 [“soul” KJV, ASV]” (Genesis 2:7). If “soul” (KJV, ASV) in Genesis 2:7 refers to the spiritual side of mankind, the verse cites three gifts with which humans were created: (1) physical properties, (2) the breath of life and (3) the spirit or the soul, which plants, animals and rocks do not possess. Otherwise, many biblical passages attest to the soul or the spirit inside each person (Numbers 16:22; Isaiah 57:16; Zechariah 12:1; Matthew 10:28; 16:26; Hebrews 4:12; 6:19; 10:39; 12:9, 23).
“So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, ‘As the Lord lives, who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life’” (Jeremiah 38:16). “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). “Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).
Hence, it’s no wonder that Jesus made a clear distinction between spiritual and physical matters, and He arranged priorities with spiritual things coming before all other considerations. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon…But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these [other] things [of v. 32] shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:24, 33). “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37).
We are citizens of the spiritual kingdom or the church before we are citizens of the nations in which we live. “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). Before we contemplate ethnicity, gender, class status, academics, economics or anything else, spiritual matters must dominate our thinking over every other pursuit. Just think of it this way; our spirits within us are to our bodies what a driver is to an automobile. One day, we’ll trade in our current bodies for a new and improved, immortal model. “Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:21). “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:51–53).
