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“IF YOUR BODY PROSPERED AS YOUR SOUL…”
“If your body prospered proportionate to the prosperity of your soul, what kind of a body would you have?”
John wrote to Gaius, “The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth,” (3 John 1-4).
Evidently, from the way John writes, he had some concern for the health of Gaius. And, he had the greatest confidence that if his body should prosper as his soul, then Gaius would be a very healthy man. That confidence was based, not only on his personal knowledge of Gaius, but, also, on the report of the brethren who bore witness of Gaius’s walking in truth. And, in this short epistle, there is a strong implication, in contrast to Gaius, that Diotrophes did not love truth and was destitute in spirit. Gaius loved truth and walked in truth – Diotrophes loved the preeminence among men more than he loved truth.
I believe that contrast will continue to exist until the end of time. I know people who are frail of body but whose spirit is healthy and strong. I also know men who are proud, self willed, who love to be praised by men, and, when one views their souls in comparison to the word, one sees that their souls are malnourished and diseased. I would not pray that such men would prosper in body as thy prosper in soul, lest they should immediately pass from this life. It does not necessarily follow that if the body is weak, the soul prospers, nor does the body being strong indicate a weak soul. However, I fear that if John should write to us, he would say: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thy soul might prosper and be in health even as they body and pocket book prospereth.”
Material prosperity is determined by family inheritance, the profession we choose and our wisdom in the use of money we obtain. A healthy body sometimes comes to one by virtue of ancestral genetics or by vigorous exercise and healthy eating. But the prosperity of one’s soul is dependent upon whether or not he loves truth and walks in truth. If your body prospered as your soul, what kind of body would you have? – Jim R. Everett
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