Preserving the Soul

Preserving the Soul

Introduction. Have you ever wondered why it is that people say “God Bless You!” (or the German Gesundheit meaning “Bless You” when someone sneezes? It goes back to some very ancient ideas.

Some ancient peoples feared the soul would leave the body. Romans thought a sneeze was evil spirits leaving the body and would say - “absit omen” (i.e. “evil spirits be gone!”).

Pope Gregory “the Great” (ca. 590 AD) during a plague instructed all who heard someone sneeze to say “God bless you.!” In the hopes of ending their illness and preventing further evil from coming upon them. So ultimately the reason that some began to say this was in an effort...

To Preserve the Soul
We may think of these ideas as foolish but today people do and say things that are no less foolish in their own attempts to preserve their soul. They say...

“I’ll live a good enough life!”

But the Lord says in Isaiah 64:6 - “...we are all like an unclean thing, and our acts of righteousness are like filthy rags...”
And in Romans 3:23 - “...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...” On our own we can’t live a good enough life to forgive a single sin or earn a moment in heaven. Some say...

“I’ll go to church every Sunday!”

It is certainly good to worship God. But we should never think that worshipping God is a “one day out of the week” business. Paul told the Romans in Romans 12:1 - “...present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Others say...

“I’ll follow my consicience!”

We should never go against our conscience. But sometimes our conscience can be misguided. This was true of Paul. He said in Acts 23:1 - “I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day”
And yet Jesus Himself said to Paul, in Acts 9:5 - “why are you persecuting Me?” He wasn’t right with God then, even though he was following his conscience. We might say...

“I’ll do everything except _______!”

We might no say this out loud, but in our heart we hang on to something that we should let go. Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 - “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
He said further in Luke 9:62 - “No one having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

How Can One Preserve the Soul? (I Peter 1:13-23)

God’s Grace (13).
Non-Conformity (14).
Holiness (15-16).
Fear (17).
Redemption (18).
Obedience to the Gospel (22).