"It is well (echo) with my soul (echo)! It is well! It is well with my soul!"

“Wait, a minute!  Did we not just do this yesterday?  Is this more of your ‘repetition’ motif?  If so, then let’s call it a day and move on.  I got the point yesterday.”

Did you?  Really?  Oh, I don’t mean the point about repeatedly declaring, “it is well” as a means of keeping your balance in this unsteady and unpredictable world.  That’s an intellectually understandable point.   I mean the unspoken point, the one that speaks to a more emotional and spiritual need.  Perhaps it’s less of a point and more of a question.  And it’s a question I would wager more than a few of you reading yesterday mumbled under your breath.

“But what if my soul really isn’t well?”

You know something?  I like your honesty.  Too many people would have just hunkered down and skipped over that, hoping nobody would notice.  That way you wouldn’t even have to address it.  But since you asked…here we go.

Let’s talk about your soul.  We might as well deal with it now because the next two verses of the hymn presuppose that it is indeed well with your soul.  So let’s do what any rational person would do: take what is an irreducibly complex and utterly unknowable aspect of your humanity and reduce it down to a knowable, philosophical definition worthy of the American Heritage Dictionary, which defines a soul as:

“A part of humans regarded as immaterial, immortal,

separable from the body at death,

capable of moral judgment,

and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state.”

So, to be clear, we are not talking about your personality, your capabilities, your strengths or weaknesses, your achievements (or lack of).  We are not talking about how you feel, act, react, how often you pray, or how much of the Bible you’ve memorized.  I only say all that because we are far too prone to define ourselves by all those things.  And all those things are (say it with me) temporary.  (You can even say “ephemeral” if you like $10 words).  And therein lies the problem: we use the temporary to determine how we feel (and act accordingly) instead of letting the eternal affect how we think of ourselves (and act accordingly).  We are talking about our immaterial, immortal self which can make a singular moral choice that will determine our future state at the moment we separate from the body.

That singular choice? Romans 10:9 lays it out for us:

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

You may notice what appears to be my grammatical error.  I said, “singular” choice.  But the scripture says two things are needed to be saved.  But can you do one without the other?  Can you say Jesus is Lord and not believe He was raised from the dead?  And if you believe He was raised from the dead, can you not call Him Lord?

If you’ve made that choice, then your immortal soul may separate from your body.  But it won’t separate from its Creator.

 It is now, and will be, well with your soul.

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Finally…

Did you know that Paul always referred to the recipients of his letters as “saints,”  whether  encouraging them or calling out their sin?  In light of that fact, revisit my earlier statement:

We use the temporary to determine how we feel (and act accordingly)

instead of letting the eternal affect

how we think of ourselves (and act accordingly).

How would that shift in thinking about yourself help you keep your balance in this unsteady and unpredictable world?

IT IS WELL // BEYOND WORDS //JIM FAULK