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

“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more they can do…….Fear HIm who after He has killed has power to cast into hell, yes I say to you, fear Him.  Matthew 12 4-5

We are formed of things physical, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, calcium among others.  There are over a thousand nerve endings for every square inch of skin!  Is it any wonder that there we have such and incredible capacity to feel sensation.  The optic nerve can have up to 1.7 million nerve fibres with which to take in information.  The average human has between 2,000 and 5,000 taste buds each with 50-100 taste receptor cells on them.  We have approximately 5-6 million smell receptors.  Humans can hear sounds resonating from 20-20,000 Hz.  There are so many other utterly fantastic aspects of our physical human anatomy, is it any wonder that we can become fixated on our physical presence. 

And what about the our spirit?  Where is that located; the brain, the heart, the big toe?  How many spirit cells are there?  When my spirit is broken; where do you put the cast to mend it?

Jesus is talking, not only with his disciples, but a gathering of followers.  He has just eaten with a group of high ranking Jewish officials, including Pharisees and lawyers.  Specfically, He has spoken to the Pharisees and the lawyers, pointing out the errors of their ways.  Then, he warned the entire gathering against the hypocrisy He sees in the leadership as a whole.  Well,  it’s one thing for Jesus to say that, but I don’t think He understands.  If I try to say what He says, if I try to do differently than these people say I should do, I could be in big trouble.  You see these people can hurt me!  They can have me beaten.  They can have me fined so that I lose money.  They can take my home away.  They can make my physical world…..hell.

Jesus understands.  We need to remember that as Christ, He was there from the beginning.  He knows exactly what we are made of.  He knows that we were dust, a lump of clay, very ordinary things.  Then we received a breath; not just any breath, but God’s very breath.  Then we became, truly alive.  We came alive and could see the splendor of God’s creation.  We could feel the wonder of His love.  We could eat and taste the blessings of His abundance.  We could smell the sweet aroma of the existence He put all around us.  We could hear the promises, He laid out for us.  We still can.

Jesus knows that which is the most important and eternal part of us.  That which came, not from the dust, but from God’s own Breath, our spirit.  He goes on to say, that God will watch out over our physical needs.  Yet Jesus also warns us, that meeting those physical needs, whatever they may be, will never truly satisfy us.  We are creatures of God’s very breath, God’s very spirit.  That spirit, our spirit, yearns to be in lasting relationship with Our Heavenly Father.  That spirit, our spirit, should truly fear an existence which is cut off from God’s spirit.  It is through Love, first His, and then ours in response, that we (He+I) can keep that spiritual relationship alive, not only for today, but for the eternity to come.

Our most Gracious and Heavenly Father, You breathed Your breath in us and so made us different than anything else that You created.  We thank You and Praise You, for that gift of Your breath, which is our spirit that resides in each of us.  Teach us Dear Father, to be always mindful of You, no matter what are circumstances may be.  Knowing full well, that our physical presence is temporary, but our spiritual presence is eternal.  It is our fervent prayer, that You will teach us the path to that eternal relationship and be merciful to us when we stumble off that path.  That we may be blessed both by our physical relationship in this life and our spiritual relationship now and forever more with You, we pray.  In the Name of Your Son Jesus Christ, who came before us and shows us the way.  Amen