Spiritual Life: Choose to have a healthy soul and prosper

In 3 John 2, the Apostle John says, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” John has a lot to say in this passage, and I would like to cover the topic of a prosperous and healthy soul.

Oftentimes when people think of prosperity, they think in terms of finances. Although finances could apply, that is not John’s focus in this text. He is referring to the health of our soul, which includes the mind, the will and emotions.

Furthermore, in this text the word “prosper” in the Greek literally means “to help on the road” or “succeed in reaching.” It is very clear from this definition that prosperity is more than money and the accumulation of wealth, but rather an ongoing state of success that touches every area of our lives.

Health and wholeness is the will of God for every area of your life.

I want you to notice that John also puts a strong emphasis on health. He understood that success and health go hand-in-hand. Things that are healthy grow and things that are not healthy stop growing. So in light of John’s prayer, it is essential that we examine the health of our soul (the mind, the will and emotions).

The health of your soul will affect the outcome of your life.

For instance, if a person has a poor self-image, they will be less likely to achieve a great level of success, simply because they do not believe they have what it takes to win in life. On the other hand, if a person has a strong healthy self-image, they will most likely achieve more in life because they have a courageous attitude.

A healthy mind produces healthy emotions and healthy emotions lead to healthy choices in life.

Have you ever wondered why some people do what they do? It can all be traced back to the state of their soul. Oftentimes people want their outward circumstances to change, but they are unwilling to change their inward condition or they simply do not know how to change.

Environment is everything. A healthy soul is the byproduct of a healthy environment and an unhealthy soul is the byproduct of an unhealthy environment.

Not everything grows in every environment. For instance, palm trees do not grow here in the Northwest, because our environment is not conducive to their growth. Your mind, your will and your emotions also cannot be healthy in a toxic environment. It is essential that we protect our souls by not exposing them to toxic people and toxic environments, but rather exposing them to healthy environments and healthy people.

Toxic environments leads to toxic thinking and toxic thinking creates toxic emotions which leads to toxic choices. The same is true in regard to healthy environments.

No matter what your circumstances are, you can choose to have a healthy soul. Whatever you give your time and attention to will determine the outcome of your life.

Decide today to give your time and attention to things that produce health rather than death.

This story was originally published March 18, 2017 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Spiritual Life: Choose to have a healthy soul and prosper."