Not my original line. I stole it from a friend. Apparently the lady at the check in counter for an airline decided to leave early. When she left early, others missed their flight. It meant an extra day in Los Angelos and a lost day in Hawaii.
So how warm is your soul?
Christians do not do much soul talk other than saving souls. Once the soul is saved, it is pretty much on its own for the most part. However, John Wesley was particularly interested in the soul in the process of being saved. He saw it as an everyday event of becoming. Therefore the soul talk was vital. He used the word, sanctification. He preached about being sanctified. It sounds painful. And in some ways it is.
It is the work of the Spirit in our life. It is no so much what you do by your efforts but what the Spirit does within you Now don't get me wrong, you have to yield yourself to holy habits--prayer, fasting, worship, acts of mercy--just to name a few. But out of the holy habits, our soul is mended. You might say the soul is warmed.
Warm souls lead to warm hearts and warm hands.
Warm hearts choose to be affected by the sufferings of others. The temptation to focus on our own sufferings is resisted. You know you lost to temptation when you have to tell about when you had that disease, surgery, or whatever. Once the story begins, your heart has turned inward. The last thing many want to during hard times is another suffering story. Warm hearts watches a news report and feels the suffering of the world. Warm hearts let go of prejudice and pride to feel for others.
Warm hands are what the world needs so badly. Warm hands reach out to those who are troubled. Warm hands are ready to give away what they have to give because they have discovered that this world is not so much to be possessed as shared. The abundance of God's provisions are dependent upon this! Rummage sales are replaced by handing items to those we know in need. The small financial gain is outweighed by the joy of sharing.
The ice in your soul is warmed by the living relationship with Jesus Christ and the body of Christ--the church. When the ice begins to melt, you have water to share for those who thirst. And from this water, the thirsts of the world are satisfied. The world, our world, God's world is made holy---sanctified.
How about your soul? Are you catching a cold from the ice in your soul?
Pray for me as I pray for you.
In the Master's Name,
Dr. M. Jack O'Dell
www.stlukesimpson.org
www.midweekmanna.com
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