I was torturing myself on the treadmill at the gym the other day when I noticed a sign on the wall that read, “Life is not about finding yourself. It’s about making yourself.” Since I was at the gym, I appreciated that. Sure, it made me feel good to be proactive about my health and “making myself into the best version of ‘me'”. However, I couldn’t help but immediately feel a prompting that this wasn’t necessarily right although it sounded good. How could we be arrogant enough to think life is all about us making ourselves into the person we want to be?

Sure, you make decisions and plans and choose the direction for your life, but that’s not what life is about, right? Surely not. It was then when God whispered, “It’s about being made new.” God was quietly reminding me of the truth that no matter what we try to do to help and better ourselves, none of it will matter at all if we aren’t letting Him make us into what He wants us to be. In the end, it will be His work in us that truly makes the difference for eternity.

There is a quote I heard once, and I love its message. It goes something like this, “You do not have a soul. You are a soul; you have a body.” Our bodies are simply vehicles that carry us through life. They need maintenance, care, and good stewardship, but regardless of how well we care for them, they eventually stop working, leaving our souls to continue on without them. While in my twenties, I may feel invincible. This five foot frame of mine will no doubt fail me one day, but I won’t cease to live. I am a soul being carried by a fleshly body. If we truly believe this to be true, I feel we will be much more inclined to focus on the inward and eternal rather than the temporal.

The best thing we can do for ourselves and those around us it to be a well-nourished soul. Life is not so much about making the right decisions for the temporal man but making the temporal man live for the eternal. When we are made new by God’s Spirit, we are quickened to a new life. Our souls are being regenerated from the death which had it captive and being brought to life by God’s resurrection power.

Those in Christ have true freedom because we know we are souls bound by an earthly body, but one day our souls will be free from this earthly life. We can make the harder decisions now because we know the freedom we truly have. When we make our decisions with eternity in mind, I can assure you we are much more likely to make the right decision. When we live for eternity, we are free from the chains of this world and the sins society promotes because we are not bound by our fleshly desires. We live for the soul, not the body.

Because we acknowledge the immortal nature of the human soul, we must allow this truth to affect all of our life. Paul instructed us to walk in the Spirit and not after the flesh. With eternity in mind, let us be that much more driven to see other souls find the freedom and newness we experience through God’s saving grace. Let us be more apt to spend extra time in prayer and more willing to sacrifice in prayer and fasting and giving in missions. Let us redeem the time because eternity is quickly approaching.

Mark 8:36
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

I Corinthians 15:52-55
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruptible, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Sarah is the Hyphen contributor for InsideOut and a recent graduate of Urshan College. She is now happily married to Jordan Hudspeth with whom she serves the Hyphen group at The Life Center in Saint Petersburg, Florida. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter.