Hi all,
What are healthy examples of people who love someone’s spirit and/or soul but know how to keep boundaries?
Titus’s love for the people of Corinth was founded in his spirit and soul.
- “His inward affection (sympathy, affection from within) is more abundant towards you…” II Corinthians 7: 13-15
- “Titus…that he would finish in you the same grace also.” 8:6
- “Thanks to God who put the same care for you that I have, in the heart of Titus.” 8: 16
- “Of his own accord he went to visit you.” 8:17
- “I sent Titus. Did he make money off you? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit? Didn’t we walk in the same steps? 12:17-18
Timothy and the Philippians
“I trust in the Lord…to send Timothy to you shortly, for I have no one else who is like-minded, who naturally cares for you.” Philippians 2: 19-20
These are examples of a healthy love of the spirit and soul, in these cases for a group of fellow believers. Titus loved the Corinthians as Paul did. Timothy loved the Philippians as Paul did. You may find someone in your life who also loves a particular element of the Lord, or of a group of people, a nation – but that is healthy love of the spirit and soul. In the cases of Titus and Timothy, their love compelled them to visit their respective people-group.
John leaning on Jesus
We have The Last Supper in John 13-17. In the 1st century, the Jews had adopted the Persian way of eating when they were in captivity there, during the times of Esther, Daniel, and Ezekiel, 597- 538 BC.
This meant dinner was held at a low table, with each person leaning on their left arm, which freed the right arm for eating. Their feet were then directed to their right and behind so that the back of each person’s head was close to the mid-section of the person to their left.
The apostle John reveals in 13: 23 and 25 that he was to Jesus’ immediate right. The Greek of verse 23 says John was reclining next to Jesus so that his head was in Jesus’ midsection. Jesus had just revealed in verse 21 that one of them had betrayed Him. In verse 25, John leaned back on Jesus and asked directly, “Who is it?”
He calls himself ‘the one whom Jesus loved.” (agape’)
Note: The writing custom of the 1st century was for an author to use the 3rd person when writing of themselves. John did that here, referring to himself as ‘the one who Jesus loved’. Mark did the same in Mark 14: 51-52: “And there followed Him a young man, naked but for a cloth, which the men grabbed, and he left the cloth and ran away naked.” Paul also referred to himself in II Corinthians 12: 2-5: “I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago…” and “I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body I don’t know, who was caught up into Paradise. He heard private words that wouldn’t be right to share…of that person I would glory, but not of myself, I will only glory in my weakness…”
Jesus loved the apostle John, at the cross leaving him in charge of His mother, Mary. Perhaps for this responsibility, John was the only one of the original 11 to die of old age. After attempting to poison him and boil him in oil to no avail, he was exiled to the small island of Patmos for a time. Once released, he and Mary settled in Ephesus where their graves are to this day. (The Roman Catholic Church says she is buried in Jerusalem. We can ask her when we get to heaven, lol)
Both Jesus’ love for John and John’s care for Mary demonstrate healthy love of the spirit and soul.
David and Jonathan
Their love for each other has been twisted by some to suggest a homosexual relationship, but that would be to misunderstand the culture and the nature of strong friendship of the same sex. Especially in the US, it seems strong friendships of the same sex are automatically viewed as homosexual, and I find that sad.
I remember my first time visiting Europe in 1973, when I saw women walking hand in hand, arm in arm, and young men walking hand in hand, arm in arm. It was a shock to my 15-year-old American eyes. In 1992, I was in Moscow and Yekaterinburg, Russia, helping to start churches. Again I saw the same affection between friends of the same sex, with no sexual impropriety involved. In fact, our Ukrainian interpreters were horrified when I asked about it. They could never imagine soiling pure friendship sexually.
David’s love for Jonathan, being about the same age, was born of a mutual love for God and His plans for David’s life. Jonathan saved David’s life several times, acting as a spy for David against his father, King Saul. We are told in I Samuel 18:4 “David and Jonathan made a covenant, for he loved him as his own soul.”
In II Samuel 1: 17-27 David composes and sings a funeral dirge for King Saul and his son Jonathan. He speaks of them being mighty, beautiful, how they were both lovely and beautiful (though Saul kept trying to kill David, here as with most funerals, only the good qualities of a person are celebrated.) He says the love for Jonathan was beyond the love of a woman.
He isn’t talking sexual, but rather the surpassing love 2 soldiers feel for each other having been through many battles together, saving each other’s lives multiple times. Different than the love of a woman, a love only 2 soldiers who had faced death and fought for each other could feel. It was a healthy love of best friends, lovers or spirit and soul, bound together in their love of God, and kept within proper boundaries.
Boundaries
It all gets down to boundaries, and the discipline to keep them. In Romans 13: 14 Paul writes (Greek): “…don’t think ahead of time how you will fulfill the lusts of the flesh.”
Learn to set and keep boundaries. Learn to protect your spirit by turning off any media that grieves your spirit. If your spirit is already seared over and can’t feel the Holy Spirit’s witness, then spend time praying in tongues and worship and regain that sensitivity. If your soul is hit with fear, learn to protect the peace. Paul said to think of that which is good, pure, and peaceful. If you can’t watch the news and remain pure and peaceful, turn it off. And physically, don’t put yourself in a position to compromise.
Set boundaries and you can love another person’s spirit and/or soul without sinning. There is much more that could be written, but I hope this series has been helpful.
New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
