We Are Souls Inside Bodies

I was once traveling on a Sunday and was far from home. I wanted to enjoy some fellowship with other Christians. I stopped at the first church I saw. It was right before their services started. I spoke with the greeters at the entrance, and they were glad to have me visit their church.

It was a situation where I didn't know anyone at the church. I had never heard the preacher speak before. I had never previously been to a church of that denomination. It felt like the place God wanted me to be at that moment. I know many other Christians have had that same experience.

The preacher was a large man with an inspiring smile. As he walked to the pulpit, I had a sense he had a very close relationship with God. This was a preacher with a commanding presence. It appeared to be obvious this was a person answering his calling to preach.

One of the first things he spoke about during his sermon was how different Christians are from one another. He asked people to look at those sitting around them. He said it is important or everyone to realize what they were seeing is not what God sees when he looks at the same person. He explained what we are seeing when we look at one another is only our earthly bodies. The preacher equated this to being a deep-sea diver and needing to put on something so you could breathe and survive in the underwater environment. He said it is the same with our earthly bodies. Our souls are inside them so we can survive our time on this earth.

The preacher made the point that we are all given a specific type of body to do the job he has planned for us in this world. He then said the soul of Abraham Lincoln could not have done what he did in this world if he had been given the body of an oriental man. Fredrick Douglas could not have done what he did in this world if he had been given the body of a Hispanic man. The mother of George Washington could not have provided our country with its first president if she had been born a man. He then emphasized that God gives us the body we need to do the job he has planned for us in this world. He closed with a request that we accept one another and the mission we have in this world. We may want to be taller, more attractive, a different ethnicity, but it is not for us to decide. We are all souls inside of bodies given a mission from God to perform during our time on this earth. The bodies we have are part of the tools God has given us to perform our mission in this world.

It was quite a sermon. I was able to speak to the preacher at the end of the services. I thanked him and his congregation for letting me attend their church. I also told him how much his sermon struck me. I found it powerful. He was a very nice man and told me I was welcome. I was invited to attend a service there any time I desired.

As Christians, I'm sure we've all heard sermons that impacted us in some way. This changed how I looked at people. It made me more relaxed and comfortable with who I am as a person. When I saw people after that sermon, I only saw souls inside bodies trying to do what God has chosen for them in this world. I realized that is one thing all Christians around the world have in common. No matter what type of body God has given us we are all simply souls inside bodies doing God's work.