“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.”- 3 John 1:2 (ESV)
In Chapter 1 (“Home Sweet Home”) of How’s Your Soul?, Judah Smith informs us that, while he loves arriving, he despises traveling. Unfortunately, Pastor Smith quips, you must travel in order to arrive.
Therefore, coming home = the greatest sensation on the planet. Judah states that home is your:
- sanity
- sanctuary
- where you’re fully yourself
As a result, Pastor Smith focuses our attention on the necessity of home. No matter where in the world you travel, how long you’ve been gone, sooner or later you crave home. You genuinely need to come home.
It follows then, that if your physical body need to regularly go home, so does your soul. Furthermore, your soul needs space simply to let down and be itself. So, Judah asks, when was the last time your soul was at home?
When your soul lives in a healthy place, you persevere and survive, even when struggling through the most painful, confusing circumstances of your life. You find strength and hope to weather the storms. Conversely, the world’s riches plus an unhealthy soul guarantee unhappiness.
Pastor Smith notes that 3 John 1:2 is a tiny verse in a tiny epistle, tucked away near the end of the New Testament. Yet, that verse contains an embedded truth we’ll spend the rest of our lives understanding and applying. Every one of us needs a healthy soul.
In conclusion, Judah cautions against taking the health of our soul for granted. Therefore, we need to stop and think about that, or we end up glossing over the part of 3 John 1:2 about the health of our soul. That’s God’s first and foremost concern.
Today’s question: Is it well with your soul? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: the new Short Meditation: “Far, far better things ahead”
