We’re more than flesh and bones!

What is my “flesh”?

It’s more than the skin and bones that make up my human body.

It’s more than the bodily systems and  functions that sustain my physical life.

It’s more than the five senses that take in life as we know and experience it.

It’s more than my feelings and emotions.

It’s more than the span of time I’m alloted to live on this earth.

My flesh is connected to my human nature, which contains all of the above in a physical, visual sense, but it goes much deeper than that. Even the animal population has all of that.

What sets us apart from the animal population? It was when God said, “let us make man in our own image” that man became different than all of creation, that is everything on the earth or beneath the earth’s surface, in the waters. Animals, birds of the air, fish of the lakes, streams, rivers and seas, etc.

Something else that sets mankind apart from animals is the existence of conscience; the knowledge of good and evil.

We have flesh and bones like the animal population, along with feelings and emotions, to some degree, but animals don’t have a conscience, or the ability to imagine, create, build, write, etc.

My flesh comprises my earthly tent of flesh and bones, along with my conscience, my will and intellect, my feelings and emotions, and my human nature.

Animals have their nature, while humans have their nature. Animals react out of their nature. They don’t think about living and breathing, or hunting for food, or building their habitats. They just do what they were created to do.

If that’s all mankind was made for, we would be no different than the beasts of the field or forest. But God said,

Genesis 1:26-28 NKJV
[26] Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” [27] So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. [28] Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

https://bible.com/bible/114/gen.1.26-28.NKJV

So we see from the beginning, man was created with a different purpose than the animals who roam the earth, fly in the skies, or swim in the waters. Man was given dominion over all of the earth; that is, everything that is on the earth.

So we see that only mankind has the Spirit of God living in them.

Even though that living spirit was separated from man because of Adam’s sinful rebellion, it was restored through Christ (Romans ch.5).

There’s my flesh, which is my body ; my physical being

There’s my human nature, with its thoughts and emotions; conscience, my heart; not the physical organ that pumps in my chest and sustains my physical life, but the seat of my emotions.

Then there’s my intellect; my mind and the seat of my will; the place where decisions are made. The battle of emotions vs will are fought here, where thoughts can either control me through my emotions (heart) or my will takes over, guided by the Holy Spirit, with wisdom, power, authority and strength, and I’m able to, not only know right from wrong, but to choose the right way that leads to life, over the wrong way, which leads to darkness and destruction.

This is what it means to worship God in spirit and in truth, and to love Him with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength.

Only man can choose which way to go. Animals simply react out of instinct, as they were created. God has created us with eternity in our hearts, yet without the ability to know our end of the number of days we will live.

Our existence as humans goes beyond our flesh and beneath the surface, into the realm of God and eternity and the deepest meaning and purpose of our lives. We were created for so much more than life in the flesh, for the number of years that mark our existence in time and space. There’s an afterlife that begins in our hearts, while we are living in these bags of bones and organs.

Amen?