The Suffering Sermon (Part 3 of 8)  

Parking Garage for Your Soul 

Some people think that they are just their physical flesh and blood bodies. 

Wiseguy newsflash, F.Y.I. For Your Information; Your body, your flesh, and blood is nothing more than a temporary holding place for your soul.  

Your body is your vessel in the physical world, which came up in a night, and will perish in a night. Your life is a parenthesis in eternity. You don't own your body, you're just renting it for a moment, so take care of it!   

As the apostle Paul said in 1st Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19-20 quote; 

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”  

Your body is always changing; the living cells that make up your body are always growing and dying, being replenished by the nutrients in the food we eat. You are always in a constant state of transition, from the day of your birth to your death and last living breath. You are never the same from one day to the next. Nothing forms, nothing dies, everything is simply in transition. 

And that includes you, who you really are. You are not your body. You are part of something eternal, changeless... Trapped in a form that is simply in transition. The point is that by the grace of God Almighty, you are a new person each day, and each day it is up to you who you serve. Whatever you serve here in this life, whatever you give you love and energy and loyalties to, will own your soul for eternity. Choose today whom you will serve. 

There are really only two choices. The Apologetic Wiseguy chooses life, of course, I choose Christ. I've died to self and surrendered to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and now the Holy Spirit of God who created all the universe fills me. Christ, the son of God resides inside of me. I know, it still sounds cliché and almost nonsensical at first. But I promise, it really works… 

Take 2nd Corinthians chapter 13, verse 5, Paul asks the Corinthian believers: quote; 

“Or do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?” 

Most just hear this without really understanding its significance. What Paul truly means is that Jesus Christ literally dwells within the believers. Paul wasn’t speaking poetically or metaphorically. There are many other verses in the Word of God that confirm the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ actually dwells in His believers. 

And now when a problem arises, I drop to my knees and pray. Before blabbing out blame and judging others, or collapsing in shame and defeat, I try to keep very quiet about it, I ask God how I can use this experience to learn something. 

I go to my secret place. I take the time to meditate alone in a quiet place about the problem, and contemplate what is really important to me, I consider what is really important in the eyes of God, and how this will affect my family and the people around me that I love. Problems come and go, there will always be problems. What's really important is how you react to the problems.