Text: Psalm 139:13-14

¹³ For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

THE EMBODIED EXISTENCE

Memory verse: Genesis 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

Human beings are not just souls stuck inside bodies like a driver inside a car. Instead, we are embodied souls, meaning our soul and body are connected closely, like two parts of the same whole. You cannot be fully “you” without both your soul and your body working together.

The wax of a candle is like the body, and the flame is like the soul. You both need to have a candle burning. The flame gives it life and light, but without the wax, the flame has no place to shine from. In the same way, your soul gives life to your body, but your body shows who you are to the world.

Some people think that the soul is the real person, and the body is just a shell or prison. But that’s not how Christian thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas understood it. He said, “The soul is the form of the body.” This means the soul shapes and gives meaning to the body. The soul is not separate from the body; it is what makes your body alive and yours. A glove by itself is flat and lifeless. But when a hand is inside, the glove moves, acts, and takes shape. The hand is like the soul, it gives form and purpose to the glove, which is like the body. Without the hand, the glove is just an empty shell. But the hand also needs the glove to work in cold or rough places. They work together.

This is why your body matters. It is not just something you live in; it is part of who you are. Your smile, your voice, your touch, all these are ways your soul expresses itself through your body. When you hug someone, it is not just your arms, it is your love being shown through your body.

So, to be human is to be a whole body and soul together. Life after death is not just about the soul floating in heaven. There is hope for the resurrection of the body because the body is part of who you are. You are not a soul with a body. You are a bodily soul, fully human, fully alive when both body and soul are united.

COVENANT GATE HYMNALS 27: SS&S 173 THERE’S A LIGHT THAT IS SHINING IN DARKNESS

1. There’s a light that is shining in darkness,

While we wait for the dawning of day;

And it cheers us along on our journey,

Till the shadows shall vanish away !

2. So we’ll wait and watch for the dawning,

The day of eternity blest;

Then take the wings of the morning,

And fly away to our rest.

3. From the sure word the prophets

have spoken, [the gloom;

There is light flashing forth through

For the Scripture can never be broken,

And the King in His glory will come.

4. Now we sing ‘mid the darkness and shadows, ;

And we pray and we watch for the dawn

Till the Day-star, in glory arising,

Shall betoken the coming of morn.

His Second Coming

5. We are not of the night nor of darkness,

Let us walk, then, as children of day;

Our weeping shall be for a moment,

And our joy shall ne’er vanish away !

Today’s Prayer

1. LORD, I thank You for creating me as body and soul, beautifully united for Your glory.
2. Help me Lord to honour You with my body and soul, living fully as Your image-bearer.
3. Father, bless others to embrace their embodied existence, seeing their bodies as sacred vessels of Your purpose. Amen.