We've all heard the saying: "So spiritual that you are no earthly good."
Any truth to this?
Genesis 2:7
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
God breathed life into man and man became a living soul. This is a spiritual action: we are spirit/soul/body. God formed man's (adam -- and you thought it was his name) body of the dust of the ground (
adamah). This is physical: it is our bodies. And God breathed (
neshâmâ
h -- a puff, a wind, soul, spirit) life (
chay). This is spiritual.
So in Word/Faith there is a saying: We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body.
Genesis 1:26
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So we were made in God's likeness and image. And we were given dominion over all life in this earth, and over all the earth.
Hebrews 2:6-8
What is man, that You remember him?
Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him?
7 You have made him for a little while lower than the angels;
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
And have appointed him over the works of Your hands;
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.
Man was put here and appointed over the works of God's hands -- what are the works of God's hands? It is the creation: the living animals, the plants, etc. The only thing that is not mentioned as being in sujection to us is our fellow man.
So we are made a spirit, in a physical (earthly) body. Our relationship and our interaction with God is spiritual. But why are we here? For what purpose did God place man in this world?
To preach the Gospel?? Do you think?
Here's Adam (and soon Eve) and he is placed in this world: to preach the Gospel?? I don't think so. Once the fall occurred and man began to become wicked, there was a need for the Gospel message to be preached. But that is not the original reason we are here.
We are then given dominion in this earth. We are told to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. We are told to be, well, physical (as oppposed to spiritual, which Adam and Eve already were in their relationship with God).
So I'm going to stop here, with this introduction. Man is a spirit, but he was placed in a physical world to take dominion and be physical here. Nowhere are we told that we are to eschew the physical, just that it is not our primary being.
So, can you be so spiritual that you are no earthly good? Who cares if we are? And is that bad? What if we simply focused 100% of our being on our spiritual side and ignored this earth and what is in it? Would that please God? Perhaps that's how we got to where we are today. Hmm?
