Last week I was speaking with a pediatrician and she was telling me about the #1 reason children go to the ER. Can you guess the reason?
The #1 reason is constipation. Who would have thought? The pain of constipation is so intense many parents think their child’s appendix has ruptured. She said kids are just not getting enough fruits and vegetables in their diets. Admittedly it’s not an easy task, and she acknowledged her own kids take daily fiber gummies.
It’s easy to only focus on the outside and forget about the inside. The outside seems so important…did they take a bath, brush their teeth, finish their homework, memorize their math facts and spelling words…and on most days we are glad they just ate something. It’s easy to forget about the inside until we are faced with an intense pain we can’t explain.
The stuff you can’t see can have a dramatic effect on the stuff you can see. The inside always affects the outside. It’s true not only of the digestive system but of the soul.
The internal condition of your soul affects everything on the outside…including whether you are smiling right now or slumped over ready to give up. When your soul isn’t in a healthy place it affects all of your relationships with your friends, your spouse, your children, your co-workers…everyone.
What if some of the relational struggles you are having right now aren’t because the relationship has ruptured, but instead are the result of a malnourished soul.
Our soul is who we really are. The person we really long for the world to know. The part of us that gets wounded by criticism and feels alive when it is accepted and loved. It’s the part of us that connects with God because it’s the real us. The part of us we take into eternity.
Jesus asks us two questions about our soul…
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? –Matthew 16:26
Is anything worth more than your soul?
We answer that question every day by how we spend our time and energy. Our time is our life.
It’s easy to neglect setting aside the time we need to care for our soul. We can focus more on outside issues like our finances or working out that we forget about the part that is really who we are. When we forget our soul it always causes pain in other areas.
You are the only one who can take care of your soul. I think you read that too fast let’s try it again….You are the only one who can take care of your soul.
You’ve read this far because you do care about your soul. It’s why you read each week. You want to win in what really matters. It’s a good start!
Think about it this way…Can you eat fruits and vegetables only one day of the week and expect to have healthy insides? Of course not. You also need to care for your soul every day.
Do you know the number one way we see Jesus caring for his soul? He got alone and prayed.
Check how often the historical records document Jesus doing this…
Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. -Mark 1:35
After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. -Mark 6:46
But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer. -Luke 5:15-16
One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. -Luke 6:12
One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. -Luke 9:18
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” -Luke 11:1
On the night before Jesus was crucified guess what he was doing? Praying. Matthew 26:36-44
It’s a pattern we see repeated over and over in Jesus’ life. Jesus’ number one form of soul care was praying.
No one can make you do this. You have to decide to do it. Just like eating fruits and vegetables.
Imagine what would happen to your outside world if you just took 15 minutes a day to pray. What would get healthier as a result of you caring for your soul? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Set an alarm for tomorrow and use that time to start caring for the part of you that’s really eternally you.
Is anything worth more than your soul?
