Loving Your Soul, Gifted by God – Pastor Jade Yi

Proverbs 9:1-6 Invited to dine at wisdom’s feast

Psalm 34:9-14 Those who seek the Lord lack nothing that is good. (Ps. 34:10)

John 6:51-58 Christ the true food and drink

Our Story 我們的故事

I have two questions for you. Let’s see which one is easier to answer off the top of your head.  1.) How do we know we are hungry?  2.) When does our soul get hungry?

我有兩個問題。對您們來說，哪一個更容易立即回答呢?  1.) 我們怎麼知道我們餓了？  2.) 我們的靈魂什麼時候會感到飢餓呢？

How do we know we are hungry? 

For most of us, when we get hungry, we might experience a growling stomach, cravings, light-headedness, headache, low energy or fatigue. Sometimes, we have a hard time staying focused and feel restless or even irritable.

我們怎麼知道我們餓了呢？ 

對於大多數的人，當我們飢餓時，我們可能會感到胃咕嚕咕嚕叫、想吃東西、頭暈、頭痛、精力不足或疲勞。有時，我們很難集中註意力，感到焦躁不安，甚至煩躁。

How about our Soul? When does our soul get hungry? Or what makes our soul hungry?  

When chaos and challenges are thrown upon us, either by ourselves or others, or when evils keep attacking or enticing us, we feel lost or the absence of God. This leads me to think, “Why does our soul get hungry more easily at times?” When we forget to partake of the right food from God, who created our lives and gifted us souls, or when our faith in Christ begins wavering, our souls get hungry.

那麼，我們的靈魂什麼時候會感到飢餓呢？或是，什麼狀況使我們的靈魂容易感到飢餓呢？  

當我們陷入混亂和遇到難題的時後，不論是自己或他人造成的， 或是當邪惡不斷的攻擊或引誘我們的時後，我們會感到失落或覺得上帝不在我們的身邊。這讓我再次思考， “為什麼我們的靈魂有時後會更容易感到飢餓呢？” 我想，是當我們忘記從創造我們生命並賜給我們靈魂的上帝那裡，攝取來自祂的餵養的時後，或者當我們對基督的信仰開始動搖的時後，我們的靈魂就會感到特別的飢餓。

In the Bible, the word Soul and its concept are well mentioned.

在聖經中，靈魂這個字及其概念，多次提及。

God’s Story 神的故事 

In Hebrew, the concept of the soul is mainly expressed by the noun נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh). [It sounds like Net-Fish. 🤔]  It appears 760 times in the Bible. In the Old Testament, soul refers to a living being’s vital life-force that interacts with its surroundings and needs to be satisfied for life to be sustained.

在希伯來文中，靈魂的概念主要是用名詞 נֶפֶשׁ （nephesh）來表達 。 [聽起來像似英文的: 落入網的魚。 🤔]  它在聖經中出現了 760 次。在舊約中， 靈魂指的是 生物體與周圍環境相互作用的重要生命力，靈魂需要被滿足才能維持生命。

In Greek, the soul is expressed by the noun ψυχή (psyche), which appears 1,077 times in the Bible. It has a similar semantic range as the Hebrew word. In the New Testament, soul refers to the inner self, life, and the person, and often has a holistic sense to it. 

在希臘文中，靈魂是用名詞 ψυχή (psyche) 來表達的。 在聖經中出現了 1,077 次。它與希伯來語的靈魂單字具有相似的語義範圍。在新約中，靈魂指的是 內在的自我、生命和此人本身。靈魂這個詞，通常旨在傳達一個整體的觀感。

Therefore, the soul is the life-force of the person and often refers to the whole being. It needs to be sustained in order for life to thrive, and it is the seat of desires, emotions, and the will as I posted in Grace’s WeChat Share Group. The soul is gifted to be in intimate relationship with God and naturally be under God’s judgment. 

因此，靈魂是人的生命力，通常意旨整個人的存在。它需要被維持，才能讓生命蓬勃發展，正如我在恩惠堂的微信分享群中解釋的那樣，它是慾望、情感和意志的所在地。 靈魂擁有與神建立親密關係的恩賜，並且自然地也將會受到神的審判。 

With this basic understanding, let us recall two passages. In Genesis 2:7, it says “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living SOUL.” In John 1, it says “Jesus, the Word of God, was with God in the beginning of creation. At each moment when the Word of God is uttered, every living being and everything was formed.”

有了這樣基本的認識，讓我們回顧兩段經文。在 創世記第 2 章 第 7 節說：「耶和華，神 用地上的塵土造了人，將生命的氣息吹入他的鼻孔裡，他就成了有生命的靈魂」。 在 約翰福音第一章說：「耶穌是神的話語，在萬物被造之前，就與神同在，萬物是藉著這個道，既是藉著神的話語所創造出來的的；凡被造的，沒有一樣不是藉著祂所創造出來的」。每一次當神說出祂的話語時，每一個生物和一切都被形成了。

That’s why we believe that the Word of God has the power to form lives, to gift us souls,  to redeem lives, to save lives, to restore lives, to nurture lives, to flourish lives, etc. Being the body of Christ by faith through grace, our souls are in an intimate relationship with Jesus, and through whom, we are in intimate relationship with our heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit.

這就是為什麼我們相信神的話語，也既是神的道， 有能力創造生命的形成、 有能力賜給我們靈魂、救贖和拯救我們生命、並恢復和滋養我們生命、使生命繁榮等等。 由於我們與耶穌的關係，透過耶穌，我們的靈魂與天父和聖靈也因此建立了親密的關係。

Therefore, we conclude that our intimate relationship with our Triune God started way back from the beginning of the creation to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, until the final coming of our Lord. 

所以，我們得出結論，我們與三一神的親密關係，可以追溯到神創造萬物之時，延續到主耶穌的復活，一直到主耶穌的再次的降臨。 

Our Conundrum 我們的難題

Jesus says in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear God who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”  As people of faith, we are assured that our souls live on even though our bodies will decay and perish. 

耶穌在馬太福音第 10 章 28 節中說：「不要怕那可殺身體但不能殺靈魂的；惟有要怕那在地獄裡，能殺身體和靈魂的神。」身為信徒，我們確信， 即使我們的身體會腐爛和滅亡，但我們的靈魂繼續存在 。 

In John 6, Jesus also reminds us that physical sustenance alone is insufficient for our souls. We need the nourishment that comes from him, the Word of God. Nourishment makes the body of Christ grow, stay healthy, and keeps the immune system strong.  The concept of keeping our souls is like how we keep our physical body healthy by eating well, exercising regularly, getting a good amount of sleep and avoiding unnecessary stresses. By doing so, our souls are less likely to get ill, and if they do get ill, they have better outcomes if we do partake of the daily basic nourishment from God.

在約翰福音第 6 章中，耶穌也提醒過我們，單靠物質的維持是不足以維持我們的靈魂。 我們需要來自祂的滋養，即神的話語。營養使基督的身體成長、保持健康並維持免疫系統強大。  保持靈魂的概念就像我們如何透過良好的飲食、定期運動、充足的休息和避免不必要的壓力來保持身體的健康，是一樣的。透過同樣的概念來維持其健康，我們的靈魂就不太可能生病。如果我們每天真正有在攝取來自上帝的基本滋養，即使生病了，康復的機率絕對是有的。

Our Conundrum is that none of us live on our own because we are so closely related to one another as the body of Christ. If few members keep their souls healthy, the body of Christ in a church will have a harder time to recuperate and take longer to gain full recovery after having a huge turbulence in our lives together.

我們的難題 就是我們沒有一個人是靠自己生活的，因為身為基督的身體的我們，彼此之間有著如此密切的連結。如果教會成員保持靈魂健康的人越少，康復的條件相對就比較弱。 萬一遇上大的波折，基督身體康復的速度，就需要比較長的時間。

Anything bad for our souls is garbage. Have you been treated like a garbage can or a garbage disposal? People come to you and dump all their anger and doubts onto you. Sometimes it’s not even done in person, but through social media. If we take all what is dumped upon us, we make ourselves their garbage can. Please remember! No one can make us a garbage can, only we can allow it to happen.   

只要對我們靈魂不好的東西就是垃圾。您是否曾被當作垃圾桶或是垃圾處理機來被對待嗎？人們來找你，把所有的憤怒和懷疑都往你身上丟。有時甚至不是親自向你做這件事，而是透過社交群組或網路媒體來向你傾倒他們自己的垃圾。如果我們接受所有傾倒在我們身上的垃圾，我們就擺明且認定自己就是他們的垃圾桶。請記住，沒有人可以使我們成為一個垃圾桶，只有我們自己能允許這樣的事發生。   

Good News We Trust and Proclaim 我們相信並宣揚的好消息

There is Good News.  In Matthew 6:25, Jesus says, “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your SOUL, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not SOUL more than food, and the body more than clothing? “

上帝確實有給我們好消息。  在馬太福音 6:25, 耶穌說：「因此我告訴你們，不要為靈魂憂慮吃什麼，喝什麼；也不要為你的身體，憂慮要穿什麼。靈魂不勝於飲食嗎，身體不勝於衣服物嗎？」 

Jesus’ teaching reminds us that God has taken care of what God has created and redeemed for the Word of God is accessible and available all the time. And our response with thanksgiving to God is loving and taking care of our Soul well as a way to express our love to our God who gifted us such a precious gift, our Soul. Thanks be to God. Amen.

耶穌的教導提醒我們，上帝已經照顧了上帝所創造和救贖的一切，因為上帝的話語隨手可及。我們對神感恩的回應是，好好的愛和照顧我們的靈魂。因為如此做，也是表達我們對上帝的愛的一種方式。我們應該感謝神，賜我們如此珍貴的禮物，靈魂。 阿們。