The Invisible You


[This post is in a weekly devotional series called Everything New. Sign up here if you’re interested.]

If someone were to ask you, “Who are you, really?” a complete answer would have to include something about the invisible you, the part within and apart from the body. One of the truest things you can say about human beings is that there is so much more than meets the eye.

Yet we play to the eye.

Think of someone you know who, by most people’s standards, is extraordinarily handsome or beautiful, a picture of health, possessing a vivacity that turns people’s heads-but someone empty on the inside.

At 36 years old, Marilyn Monroe, one of the best-known female icons of the 20th century, who was sought for the best movie roles and the most popular magazine covers, took an overdose of pills to end her life. By becoming larger than life, almost revered as a goddess, she lost her inner self, and she put the icon in the grave.

The outward self can profoundly contradict the inward self.

The belief that we as human beings are nothing more than chemical factories changing oxygen and food into energy day by day until the factory breaks down and we die, is extraordinarily hard to maintain. It is not for lack of trying.

Many philosophies and religions limit themselves to the certainties of what we can touch and measure–things such as fingers and eyeballs and the amazing network of nerve fibers in the body. Proponents of this idea say, listen to common sense; what you can see is all there is. It’s all there ever will be. The sum total of a man or a woman is what can be placed on a scale or in a coffin. And yet, like a great hot air balloon that refuses to do anything but ascend, this idea that we are more than our bodies, that there is soul, that we’re not done when we’re dead, keeps rising in most people’s convictions.

We are body and soul, which throughout our lives are inseparable. One person, with two major aspects: the external (visible, fleshy, sensory), and the internal (thoughtful, moral, volitional). Your spiritual reactions come from the experiences you have with what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. A husband loves his wife well when he does it with devoted thoughtfulness, emotional understanding, and physical touch. God’s greatest command is that we love him with heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Our visible and invisible selves are like the relationship between house and home. “House” especially notes the physical thing, whereas “home,” though not separate from the house, points to the greater spiritual reality, a living thing. You repair a house, but you live at home.

Now there is that unique moment when the spiritual self is separated from the bodily self–when the last breath is exhaled and, like Jesus, we can pray, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” It is that time when our “earthly tent” is destroyed, when we go from being “at home in the body” to being “away from it” (2 Corinthians 5:1, 9). How will we ever comprehend this as long as we are creatures of the earth? None of the stories of spirits haunting houses and ships or even having friendly exchanges are truthful or helpful. What the Gospels teach is that Jesus told the thief on the cross, “today you will be with me in Paradise,” and Paul said that he knew that if he had to be “away from the body,” he would be “at home with the Lord.”

Next time: what does the Bible mean by body, soul, spirit, mind, etc.?

Excerpt from Putting the Pieces Back Together: How Real Life and Real Faith Connect. Free DVD available now.

7 thoughts on “The Invisible You”

  1. Mattie Stone-Willliams

    Your article is insightful and raises some profound questions for every believer. Perhaps the problem is simply a matter of perspective! What are we focusing on? If we develop the perspective of Paul, then this journey here is seen as temporary and the visible is passing, because our focus is on the invisible, the unseen, the eternal ! In effect, we see through eyes of faith, we cultivate a divine perspective of life here on earth as it compares to life eternal with the Lord! Paul says, what we experience here are but light afflictions compared to the glory that will be revealed in us! This divine perspective , if you will, then changes how we experiences sufferings. As believers, we understand that what is unseen is far more real than any worse -case scenario in the natural! In fact, when we suffer , we do so in fellowship with Christ knowing that it is for his glory! Then, with the mind of Christ we know that God has a purpose for every affliction. We endure with His Grace that is sufficient for us! We receive faithfully, both his hand of blessing and suffering as fellowship. We then count it all joy.. when we face trial of many kind because we know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance. Our focus is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus!

  2. I am not certain of the question for this article.
    I do believe we are made of two parts-as the article says in simple terms-Home and House. My husband and I have always made a “home” for our family, not merely a “house”. The difference is where we placed our heart. We do not feel we are living here in a temporary setting, we set down “roots” and have created a warm, inviting place for our children to grow and flurish. Setting up our home and life based on where our heart is has of course included having God in our daily life. We realize our “home” is with God in heaven but our “away” home is here on the earth He created for us and has blessed us with. Keeping God in your heart is keeping God in your home.

  3. LeAnne Nelson Dahl

    I believe God gave me a outer shell that looks and moves differently than others. But I have always believed that He had his reasons. You see, I was born with cerebral palsy. I have never
    once blamed God or anyone. At 72, I’m thankful for Him giving me opportunities to share the fact that “I can do all things through Christ which strenghens me.” Phil 4:13.

    I am not speaking of physical abiilities. but rather an ability think, speak, and direct my life in a
    reasonable fashion. Yet, people stare at me, assuming I don’t really know or understand anything.
    It’s because they see my outward appearance. They don’t know that I have advocated on behalf of the elderly and disabled at the State and National levels. Nor do they see me visiting the lonely
    people in my assisted living facility and our nusing home.

    Would I tell them? No. Those who see beyond my shell, know that Christ is Walking with me every minute of my life.

    1. LeAnne- Your words are so profound. Thank you for speaking to this. Christ is shining through you even in these few words.

  4. Like you Kay, I am a little lost..
    But what I think is this..
    the invisible me is the part that;
    -only God can see
    -God is preparing to live with Him in Heaven
    – fearce battles are being fought over to win
    – is searching for God continuosly
    – needs to connect to my brain , sometimes , that is a very long journey
    – will not understand until Jesus and I are together.

    I see a patteren, growing pains and rights of passage,,Jesus suffered, why sould we have it any easier?? We are all individual and God has different plans for each one of us..God has no favorites He loves us all the same..We must want to learn ,,we must want to obey.. I want to connect with Jesus..So I ask him to show me my “heart” Our behaviour is a product of our heart..Only God can see the invisible parts..People just see the results of our invisaible part..
    I pray to Jesus to search my heart and change and clean out His home in there for His glory and service!! AMen

  5. Mattie, your response was amazing and deeply profound. And LeAnn, you personify someone who truly lives your life knowing that His Grace is Sufficient and it’s not necessary for you to defend yourself in the face of society’s reactions as to how they see you on the outside. You personify Jesus as He faced His accusers. He had total peace and felt no need to try and convince others who He was and or what He was doing. As I read the other responses, it’s wonderful to see the understanding that we are indeed two people – the natural being we show to the world everyday, the one that we and others judge as worthy or not, and our inner, spiritual being, the eternal us that is light and makes a “home” for the Holy Spirit. And when we shake these earthly bonds we know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Father, please give us patience “while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our Great God and Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13 – NIV).

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