There is more than one kind of death one can experience. There’s physical death. But there’s also psychological/emotional death when one gives up hope and the will to strive for good and simply yields to life as a victim. Then there’s spiritual death when one turns her back on God. Conversely, there are three kinds of life one can enjoy contained within the three realms of human existence- spiritual (human spirit and our capacity in our human spirit to commune with God’s Spirit), psychological/emotional (soul), and physical (body). One’s will – the capacity for volitional choices, the ability to determine one’s destiny through personal self-determination and action – resides within one’s soul.
In the Twelve Step Power to Choose curriculum which I teach, Step 3 says, “We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.” I have pondered the tenses of the objects in this sentence – our “will” and our “lives”. We each possess a single will, but we have multiple “lives”, all of which we must intentionally turn over to God if we are to live transformed lives.
As the picture at the top of this post observes, one may be challenged with battles in life but can retain the vitality of her spiritual life (faith) and her psychological/emotional strength (will) in spite of the toll such battles take on the body. One’s spirit and soul are eternal; the physical body is not.
Spiritual vitality and psychological/emotional vitality ….. faith and will. Spirit and soul…..alive and thriving. THIS is abundant life! And can be enjoyed regardless of age or physical limitations until the day God frees us from our physical limitations and takes us home forever.