Devotion: You Are A Spirit

As we look at the creation of man, we can actually see man being created with three distinct parts; spirit, soul, and body.  We know that man was created in the image and after the likeness of God.  According to the first chapter of Genesis, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Genesis 1:26).”  Many people have a hard time reconciling the fact that mankind is “created in the image and after the likeness of God,” but the original man and the original women were “created in the image and after the likeness of God (Genesis 1:27).”  And since each of us are a copy of the original man or the original woman, then we too were “created in the image and after the likeness of God.”  Now, when God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” he was not referring to the image that you see when you look in the mirror.  Jesus tells us “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24), which means you must be a spirit as well.  Wow!  You are actually a spirit being, created in the image and after the likeness of God.  Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite told Job and his two friends that “there is a spirit in man” (Job 32:6-8).  This statement implies that the spirit, which is in man and man himself are not the same.  However, this does not mean that your spirit is not similar to the form that you see in the mirror because throughout the Bible, God is described as having features such as “hands, arms, face, and back parts” (Exodus 33:22-23), but you are a spirit being first.  What you see in the mirror is your physical body.

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7).

We see from scripture that God formed, molded, or shaped man’s body from the dust of the ground.  We also see this fact strongly emphasized by God after the fall of man.  God tells man that he is but dust; “for it was out of dust that he was taken and it is to dust that he will return” (Genesis 3:19).  Now we have the physical body, formed from the dust of the earth, but there is no life in this body.

“… and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7).

Now we have the lifeless body, which God breathed the breath of life into and the body comes to life.  This breath is the same breath that God “gives to all living things” (Numbers 27:16).  When we die, we see the creation process in reversed.  We already know that our bodies return back to the dust from where it came, but “our breath,” the breath that God breathed into our nostrils, “returns back to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

“… and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).

Then, there is the soul, the thing that man became.  Man became a living soul after God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.  The soul is defined as the nonphysical aspect of a person, which contains person’s most important feature, his or her essence.  This is where the deepest and truest nature of a person can be found.  It is here that the most complicated human attributes can be found, such as a person’s consciousness, thoughts, feelings, and will.  The soul is where a person’s emotional and moral nature and be found.  This is a place where the most private thoughts and feelings are hidden.  The soul is the thing that gives each person his or her distinctive character.  It is also believed to be the one part of man that continues to exist after the body dies.

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thessalonians 5:23).

In this passage, Paul makes mention of our whole spirit and soul and body.  Paul has described man as “a tri-partite being,” made up of three individual parts, asking that our “entire spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  So the reflection that you see in the mirror, that physical body that you see, is made of dust and to dust is where it will return.  However, within the reflection is that real you; a spirit being that has a soul, all living inside of that image in the mirror.

“... This message is from the Lord, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit” (Zechariah 12:1 NLT).<

To summarize, you are a spirit created in the image of God that became a living soul, all living inside of a body.  We pray that today’s inspirational message will give you a new perspective on what it means when it is said, “you are a spirit being.”  We also pray that this message will bless you, inform you, and that you will be the better for having read it.  If blessed by this message, please share so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW