Soul-Health
Our great need as sinners is /f/i? — spiritual life. Being by nature dead in trespasses and sins,” we need to be quickened by the Spirit of God. Our great need, as those that have been quickened, is the maintenance of soul-health. Health supposes life. There can be no health until there is life. But there may be life without health. This is true of the soul as well as of the body. Have we, as Christians, sufficiently recognised the importance of living in the vigour of soul-health? Have we not thought it enough so long as there has been spiritual life at all? And yet how impossible it is to over-estimate this blessing? Just as the soul exceeds in value the worth of the body, so soul-health surpasses in importance the health of the body. Aye know the effect of disease on our 95
physical system; how it impairs our strength, takes away the appetite, and destroys our enjoyment of God’s temporal mercies. Not less marked are the effects of soul disease. To the prevalence of so much sickness among the members of the Church of Christ may be traced the lack of spiritual power, the want of appetite for the word of God, and the absence of joy and gladness in what Christ is made unto us.
It is a fact, which cannot be controverted, that a large proportion of those who have trusted in Christ for salvation and deliverance from condemnation, are still so enfeebled by spiritual maladies that, instead of being strong, courageous, active, and victorious over the sin that daily assails them, they are weak, timid, desponding, and continually being overcome by the enemy.
But many there are who believe there is a better life for them here on earth than this sad experience of incessant failure. And, blessed be God, many there are who are
beginning to live that life! To those who are seeking it we would say, See that you do so in God’s way, not by works, but by faith. Not by doubting, but trusting. Unbelief is the parent disease of all our ailments — it is the disease that so readily aifects us, just as it is the sin that so easily besets us.
For physical health there are three things we justly regard as absolutely essential — good food, pure air, and sufficient exercise. Those three things, in a spiritual sense, are as essential to the health of the soul.
Let us see how they are provided for us in the kingdom of God.
First — There is the food of His word. Upon that inspired word the believer must feed daily if he would be strong. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.” How can the soul of the Christian be in health if he neglects to take in spiritual nourishment, or if he habitually feeds upon injurious food? And by feeding on the word, we mean not deul-lfaltl). 97
simply the reading of the “daily portion,** but a true digestion of that which is read. It is only thus that the bone and sinew of our spiritual life are formed. “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto to me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” (Jer. xv. 16).
One of the marks of disease — of the soul as well as of the body — is loss of appetite. When there is no inclination for the reading of the Scriptures, a reluctance for religious conversation, or for anything pertaining to God’s kingdom, we have an evidence of spiritual disease. But the word not only satisfies the hunger of the soul, it restores the health that has been lost. “He sent his word and healed them.”
Second — The atmosphere of His presence, Man subsists upon the air he breathes more than upon the food he eats. He is not always partaking of food, but he is always breathing. Even while he sleeps he breathes. And this is equally true of the soul,
We need an atmosphere to live in as well as food to feed upon. That atmosphere is Christ’s own Presence. In Him we are to live and move and have our being.** It is, of course, quite possible for a Christian to get out of that atmosphere, to cease to “abide in Him.” And then what follows? Just what would follow if from a pure and healthy climate a man were to go and take up his abode in a locality where the air is full of malaria, or all kinds of noxious vapours. Disease would be the inevitable result. The best of food could not of itself alone codnteract the evil. Most of us are keenly alive to this, so far as the body is concerned. Would that we were as careful with our souls!
How can the Christian expect anything but weakness and disease when most of his time his soul is breathing the poisonous atmosphere of wordliness? “But,” does some one ask, ‘’how can I always be in this atmosphere?”” My Presence shall go with thee,’ is the answer. In every duty, in every lawful dottl-ltaltl). 99
pursuit, in every pure and innocent recreation, we may count upon having with us the hallowing Presence of Christ. The way which our Heavenly Father has marked out for us to walk in is the path in which Christ never ceases to be present. In that path we may ever breathe the pure air of Divine holiness.
It is, therefore, a vital question when considered spiritually — Where do you live? Where is it that your soul habitually dwells? Can we answer
“In God I have found a retreat,
Where I can securely abide,
No refuge nor rest so complete.
And here I intend to reside *’?
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Let the soul live in that atmosphere and he need not fear the “noisome pestilence.” In “His presence is salvation” from spiritual disease.
Third — The exercise of our faith. There loo dottI4^aIt]^.
must be some proportion between the amount of food received and the exercise needed. All trial is exercise. And the Lord knows how much of it we need. If He gives us His word to kindle our faith — for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God “— He gives us also the trial to exercise our faith. “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,” &c. (i Pet. i. 7).
And if He feeds us with truth, which comforts our hearts, and strengthens our lives, He will call us to practise what we have professed to believe. This practice is the exercise of faith.
Some Christians are sick, not because they have not the truth, but because their practice falls so far short of their doctrine. There is such a thing as spiritual dyspepsia.
We must have the practical carrying out in the daily life of those principles we hold as the articles of our faith. We believe, for instance, that the Christian is one who is to be
distinguished amongst other things for the gentleness and love of his spirit, the truth and sincerity of his character, the integrity and transparency of his actions. And we believe that these are fruits which he is utterly unable of himself to bring forth; that they are the outcome of Divine Life within; that it is only as he dwells in Christ, and Christ abides in him, that his life can thus become transformed into the image of God’s dear Son. Now these truths are not only to be held as doctrines, they must be “translated into action,” as Coleridge says. And to this end, with the deep conviction of our own utter helplessness in the matter, we commit our souls to Christ. We yield ourselves to Him to keep us and work in us. We expect, as we abide in Him, practically to be able to bring into exercise these very virtues for which of ourselves we are utterly insufficient. Let this trust in Christ be true, and we shall find that our lives, though calm and peaceful, will be intensely active. No spiritual
disease arising from a want of exercise, will then assail us; but, as with the Thessalonians, our faith will “grow exceedingly,” and the practical manifestation of Christ will abound.