How Head, Heart and Hands provide you with a unique perspective
Whenever you look out of a window, you only see what that window allows you to see. In my office at home, I have two windows. One faces east, and when I look out that window, I see whatever’s to the east. The other faces the south, and I can only see a south perspective. If I only believe what I see through that particular window is reality, I’m missing a lot of whatever else is available from other points of view to understand.
Your unique window to the world can be a blessing to you but can also be a curse in terms of how you understand God’s complete design and the fullness of who you are as an individual.
Theologians have spent a lot of time talking about the different parts of the human being – body, soul and spirit.
BODY
Your body carries you through this life. Through it you sense and feel things and interact with other people. You cover your body, and your body can get sick or hurt.
SOUL
Within the body, you have the soul. The soul is really the essence of who you are. The Bible defines your soul as your mind, your emotions, your will, your desire and your personality. Your soul is what makes you unique.
Scripture talks about your heart. We say, “Give your heart to Christ.” The heart is part of the soul. It’s that deep part of you, where you connect with your emotions and your thoughts. And within the soul is the whole personality of who you are.
SPIRIT
Then you have your spirit. Scripture teaches God is a Spirit and those who worship Him, must worship Him in Spirit (John 4:23-24).
Mary, pregnant with Jesus, greets her cousin, Elizabeth and said, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:47 NLT)! There’s a distinction between the soul and the spirit. Mary is a praising God with her soul, her mind her heart, her thoughts or desires – that’s the part of us that we tap into to connect with other people. She goes on to say her spirit rejoices, and that’s the part of us we use to connect with God.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (ESV). Soul and spirit are two different things and yet, they are part of the whole. It’s like in your body; you have tendons and muscles. Within the whole of who you are, you are a body, a soul and also a spirit.
That can be kind of a hard thing to understand sometimes. We encourage people to give their hearts to Christ, but we really should encourage them people to give – not only their hearts – but their minds, will and emotions. When you give every part of who you are, it allows the Holy Spirit to come in and be a part of your life and have that connection point with God.
