ON THE VANGUARD

EVEN AS
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."
III John 2

A few days ago I wrote about my new quest of prayer walking. Well, yesterday afternoon, as I was getting in a mile or so during my lunch break, the verse of III John 2 came to mind. It is one that we probably have all heard before, and one that I remember my dad constantly quoting in my late teens. But as I was meditating on it with each step I took yesterday, the verse seemed to come alive. Take a look at it with me, please. "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." Now granted we do not speak in King James English these days, but the truth of what God showed me rested in my knowing this verse in the King James Version.
So here is what God opened my eyes to as I meditated. As I have been doing my miles of walking daily, I have come to notice a physical difference in myself. Already I have lost 6 pounds which has allowed me to notice a gap in my clothes, I have felt healthier, and I have found the benefit in eating and drinking with more planned attack rather than swallowing junk food whole. In a way, I could say I have noticed my physical health prospering. Yet III John 2 doesn't only say, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health..." It adds the ending section, "even as thy soul prospereth." Leave it to God to break this portion down for me. You see, I have been beating my body up to a degree for it to begin to look better, feel better, and act more in line with the way God intended for it to perform. But have I done the same for my soul? Has my soul been prospering? I feel that as I has contemplated the truth of the verse that key words have jumped out. Those key words in this scripture are the words 'even as'. My body should prosper even as my soul prospers. My soul must come first. It can't be the other way around, leaving my soul on the back burner or as a second thought.
God began to show me the image of a personal trainer in a gym. The trainer's job is to beat my body into the structure of the physically fit person I want to be. Knowing this, when he barks out orders to run a mile, or do push-ups and squats, or bench press 150 pounds, I do it because there is a level of fit-ness that I desire. But put God in the gym of my soul as my trainer and I find that I am a little less eager to comply with His workout routine. God says to share love with others, or pray for so and so, or even give a few dollars in the offering and instead of moving at His command, I say, "You want me to do what?" This hesitant action does not show my soul prospering, but rather my flesh fighting. How can I have the key to it all in overall prospering if I am willing to work on my flesh only and not my soul? If looking at it through the words 'even as', there is no hope for a great end result if I allow myself to only have one sided workouts.
Today’s devotional is short, but I pray your eyes will be opened to the truth God has shown me. Our bodies are supposed to be the temple of God. As a result it is best that we learn to take care of our physical bodies. But we must also take care of our soul, and honestly I feel that the health of our soul carries more weight. God our trainer is in the gym of our soul waiting for us. He has an exercise routine mapped out that in the end will reflect Him, but the question is if we will surrender ourselves to His routine. It will include things like reading the Bible or praying, which seem to be as common as jumping jacks and jogging. Yet it will also include tougher exercises such as giving money to the poor, caring for the homeless, and loving even when we do not want to. Those type exercises can bring as much pain as squats or crunches, but they too will aid us in becoming like our trainer. In order for our body to prosper, our marriage to prosper, or our wallet to prosper, we must remember the words ‘even as’, for until our soul first prospers we will never fully be pumped up.