Are You Believing a Holistic Gospel?
Most of us think of faith as something that lives in the spiritual lane. We go to church, read our Bibles, pray — and that’s the Christian life. But what about your mental health? Your physical health? What if God actually cares about all of it, and the gospel was always meant to speak to your whole life — mind, body, and soul?
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we’re going to explore what it looks like to believe and live out a truly holistic gospel. You’ll discover why caring for the whole person isn’t optional — it’s at the heart of God’s design. And how stepping into those conversations with others can bring real hope to a world that’s sick and dying for it.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- How God’s story in Scripture has always been holistic in nature
- Jesus’ surprisingly simple explanation of the Law and Commandments
- Why a holistic gospel naturally sends us out on mission
- Practical steps to care for your physical, spiritual, and mental health today
From this episode:
“You are a holistic being — created with a body, a spirit, and a soul. God created you this way and cares for you completely, not just your spiritual life. As you value and steward your life in all these areas, you become more mature, more like Christ, and you better display what our good God and his Kingdom is all about.”
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…
Thanks for Listening!
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Coaching and Mentorship in Missional Living by Caesar and his wife Tina
Resources for missional living and group training – Missio Publishing
Caesar’s book: Bigger Gospel: A Practical Guide to Growing in Gospel Fluency.
Transcript
So to think like, well, I, I, I, I shouldn't love myself.
Speaker:I should only think to the needs of others.
Speaker:How do you do that if you don't take care of your own self?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like, you know what?
Speaker:I've been so not caring for myself to the sake of others.
Speaker:Speaking directly to pastors here too, right now, especially small church of pastors.
Speaker:You expected to do everything.
Speaker:I'm so looking to the needs of everybody else.
Speaker:I'm emotionally fried.
Speaker:My cholesterol's through the roof.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:My blood pressure's nuts.
Speaker:I have no joy.
Speaker:My mental health, I think I'm going crazy.
Speaker:A lot of people aren't happy with me.
Speaker:Seems like 50 50.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Uh, so wait a minute, but I'm, I'm, I'm in the word Every day I'm dealing with my spiritual health.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:Are you healthy?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:See, it's all of it.
Speaker:And you, it takes time.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:All need time to be addressed.
Speaker:You're physical, you're emotional.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Your mental health intellect, like, you know, right.
Speaker:Like, do you have time to even learn or unlearn?
Speaker:Do you have time to move from unbelief to belief in new areas of your life?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You have to love yourself.
Speaker:IE steward the great gifts of mind, spirit, soul, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Body.
Speaker:You have to steward all that.
Speaker:Or out of what?
Speaker:Well do you even have to give.
Speaker:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Speaker:In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Speaker:This is the stuff your parents, pastors and seminary professors.
Speaker:Probably forgot to tell you.
Speaker:And now here's your host, Caesar Kalinowski.
Speaker:Hey ha.
Speaker:It's good to be back with you.
Speaker:We're live.
Speaker:Here we go.
Speaker:It's awesome.
Speaker:Last week was a fun episode.
Speaker:Huh?
Speaker:We had a bunch of listeners join us on Facebook Live.
Speaker:I know, right?
Speaker:So they got, they got a little preview ahead of when that thing aired and they got to see us with all of our warts and all that.
Speaker:I'm not sure why we did that episode.
Speaker:In bathing trunks only.
Speaker:I don't, that's not our norm, but we thought that eye candy that'll look better.
Speaker:Eye candy.
Speaker:Little eye candy on the old Facebook page.
Speaker:You
Speaker:know what's fun is, is this episode today actually came from a post we did a while back on Facebook where we said, Hey, what do you guys wanna hear an episode about?
Speaker:And somebody said, how about care and physical and mental health?
Speaker:And
Speaker:in fact, right, this, this topic of self-care kind of kept coming up.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Like, hey, speak to the, how does the gospel speak into how we care for ourself?
Speaker:And is it just a matter of.
Speaker:Like, you know, the, the body's a temple, you know?
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:So I, I just have to do a little shout out and thank you.
Speaker:'cause on the Facebook page, Kevin Gentry, Ramiro Sepulveda, and Malia Miller.
Speaker:Kinda all chimed in on that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And kind of gave us some bumpers and all that.
Speaker:And Malia Miller, she's like the faithful one man she is on and gives us feedback for everything and lots of good ideas.
Speaker:So thank you to all of you.
Speaker:And I'm not sure exactly what you're all hoping this would be.
Speaker:Maybe looking for some exercise steps or you want me to explain the importance of getting some me time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Upward and downward dog.
Speaker:The yoga poses.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, you know, less butter on the popcorn.
Speaker:I don't, that's not, I'm kidding.
Speaker:But this is a fascinating topic and one that I think is real important and, um, one that maybe we're talking about self care, right?
Speaker:Or, you know, the role of the church when it comes to just how we care for ourselves.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Maybe we've missed this a bit again, unfortunately, like we've, it's been too narrow.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So, um, let's start out looking in to see what scripture teaches about.
Speaker:Caring for ourselves.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And self even.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Let's do it.
Speaker:So, um, the Bible teaches us that humans are made up, uh, of three things.
Speaker:Body, spirit, and soul.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I believe that not everybody believes that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, like our creator though, think about it.
Speaker:We're creating God's image three in one.
Speaker:Uh, we are creating three parts, or we are tripartite beings.
Speaker:I just to use word like a Bob nerd.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Now, not everybody believes that, but it's hard to deny it when it's in scripture.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:So look at this.
Speaker:Genesis two seven and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.
Speaker:That's his body.
Speaker:He formed his body right from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils, the breath of life.
Speaker:And that word translates spirit.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:That's where we got our life.
Speaker:God's own spirit, that poof, breathed right into the body, and man became a living soul.
Speaker:So right there in that scripture, we see all three body, spirit, soul.
Speaker:Now some will say no, we're soul and spirit.
Speaker:Same thing.
Speaker:You know what?
Speaker:I have studied this brother for years,
Speaker:right?
Speaker:It's not now.
Speaker:Sometimes though, uh, check this out.
Speaker:After Fallen Man where we've denied God in our life, denied the work of the spirit.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:So we're gonna rule, self rule apart from God.
Speaker:We become spiritually dead.
Speaker:You do see references to.
Speaker:Body and soul.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And it seems like body and spirit might be, you know, might be the same thing, but it says body and soul and they don't mention the third.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:'cause we denied it.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:So, but it creation hard to deny it.
Speaker:'cause there it is.
Speaker:Genesis two, seven.
Speaker:Now.
Speaker:So when you go like, okay, then what's soul?
Speaker:So God formed us, our body, breathe its own breath.
Speaker:That's the word for spirit in Hebrew.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And we became a living soul.
Speaker:The word soul translates in Hebrew as, uh, self or mind.
Speaker:Or living being.
Speaker:And also desire, emotion, passion.
Speaker:Check that out.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:So this is our self.
Speaker:That part, when it says soul, that's your personality.
Speaker:That's you.
Speaker:Um, sometimes that's the word, psyche, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Um, it, it can also, it means like our mental bits, like our mental parts, that's part of our soul.
Speaker:Like, think about when you look in the mirror or you think of yourself, what's going on?
Speaker:That's your soul.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So that's what's going on here.
Speaker:And the gospel, the good news of Christ, addresses all of us, all three parts, and the interaction that we have between those three, right?
Speaker:Body, spirit, and soul, and the interaction that we have between each other.
Speaker:So when we don't see people ourselves or anyone else holistically has made up of all that, and we see the job of the church caring primarily for their spiritual lives.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And so therefore, we don't actively, intentionally address the physical and emotional needs of people with the gospel.
Speaker:That's a little sticky, a little stickier.
Speaker:Then guess what?
Speaker:It leads to experiencing, I think, a false gospel very often.
Speaker:I
Speaker:can totally see it.
Speaker:It doesn't look outward to the needs of others.
Speaker:And that's what we see unfortunately happening in so much of the church today.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:The church is not that outward focused.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We're not that like, wow.
Speaker:We are living for the sake of restoration for everybody, for the marginalized,
Speaker:sure.
Speaker:For people who aren't treated equally, for every race, retreated, every sex gener, you know?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And why I think some of it's at this root, we actually have not been taught, and we don't believe somehow that God sees us holistically, body, spirit, and soul, and that the gospel then would therefore address all of life.
Speaker:Somehow, maybe it's because the world like tended to neglect the spiritual.
Speaker:We became hyper-focused on the spiritual and truthfully matter.
Speaker:Truth of matter is all things kind of are spiritual.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Or at least spiritually connected.
Speaker:But when we don't actively address all of that, that kinda takes us off the hook for addressing it in the world.
Speaker:And there's a good chance I think that a, that a disengaged church socially.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:You know, a church that's not really that much of, like in their city, no one would even notice if they closed.
Speaker:Except for maybe the people that go on Sunday.
Speaker:What a sad thought.
Speaker:Yeah, right.
Speaker:I think there's a good chance that if they're that disengaged, that most of its time and energy is focused only on spiritual development of their people and sort of behi behavioral modification.
Speaker:So if they're actually addressing anything.
Speaker:Beyond the spiritual that touches down in life.
Speaker:It's like, well, here, don't do that.
Speaker:Stop doing that.
Speaker:Do more of this.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:That's what Christians do now,
Speaker:huh?
Speaker:As we wait for heaven.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:That's such a, that See how, see how our false understanding of how even being we've even been created
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Starts to lead to, well, we're only focused on spiritual at the church, so that doesn't actually address how I care for me.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Physically, mentally, emotionally, my body, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:How I view my body.
Speaker:Health, all that, right?
Speaker:So I've heard by many people, not just one or two, this the concept of, well, you're not supposed to love yourself, but you're supposed to love others.
Speaker:You know, don't focus on yourself, focus only on others.
Speaker:What do you think's going on there?
Speaker:Is that just an excuse to get out of having to work at being healthy?
Speaker:Well, maybe, maybe not.
Speaker:I think, you know, hey, don't love yourself, but love others.
Speaker:I don't.
Speaker:That's not right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's not what Jesus teaches.
Speaker:But I think obviously if we engage in such a level of self love.
Speaker:Hand raised, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That at, at times I'm not focused on anybody else's needs and they're all around me.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:That's not right.
Speaker:That's not right, but, uh, what, let's see what Jesus taught.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:right.
Speaker:I'm done for that.
Speaker:So Mark 1228, uh, it says, one of the teachers of the law came up and heard, uh, Jesus talking and debating and noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer.
Speaker:God, he hated that.
Speaker:He, he tries to trap 'em, right?
Speaker:He goes, uh, he asked Jesus of all the commands then of all the commandments, which is the most important, and what's Jesus' response?
Speaker:We all notice when he goes, the most important one Jesus says, is this.
Speaker:Hero is Israel, the Lord our God.
Speaker:The Lord is one.
Speaker:That's the Shema, okay?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And then he summarizes all this love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Speaker:Now let me break that down a bit.
Speaker:That's the first half of it.
Speaker:Love the Lord your God with all of your heart.
Speaker:That's your spirit.
Speaker:That's, that's where the seat of who, you know what's going on in our life.
Speaker:And with all your soul, there's your psyche, your mental thoughts, your id, your, your who you are, and with all your mind.
Speaker:That's what you've learned so far.
Speaker:Your intellect and with all your strength, your bodily energy and effort.
Speaker:So that's how we're to love God.
Speaker:That's cool.
Speaker:And then he goes on, okay, so lemme I'm sum, I'm summarizing the law.
Speaker:All of you should love God.
Speaker:And I thank you Jesus for breaking it down that way.
Speaker:The second is this.
Speaker:Then love your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker:Remember how you were created.
Speaker:Remember we were created body, spirit, soul.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Jesus saying that this is how you're to love yourself and others.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's
Speaker:good.
Speaker:Same way.
Speaker:I love that breakdown.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's
Speaker:such a
Speaker:holistic, so, so to think like, well, I, I, I, I shouldn't love myself.
Speaker:I should only think to the needs of others.
Speaker:How do you do that if you don't take care of your own self?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like, you know what?
Speaker:I've been so not caring for myself to the sake of others.
Speaker:Speaking directly to pastors here too, right now.
Speaker:Especially small church pastors where you're expected to do everything.
Speaker:I'm so looking to the knees of everybody else.
Speaker:I'm emotionally fried.
Speaker:My cholesterol's through the roof.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:My blood pressure's nuts.
Speaker:I have no joy.
Speaker:My mental health, I think I'm going crazy.
Speaker:A lot of people aren't happy with me.
Speaker:Seems like 50 50.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Uh, so wait a minute, but I'm, I am.
Speaker:I'm in the world every day I'm dealing with my spiritual health.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:Are you healthy?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:See, it's all of it.
Speaker:And it takes time.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:All need time to be addressed.
Speaker:You're physical emotional, right?
Speaker:Your mental health.
Speaker:Intellect.
Speaker:Like, you know?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Like, do you have time to even learn or unlearn?
Speaker:Do you have time to move from unbelief to belief in new areas of your life?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You have to love yourself.
Speaker:IE steward the great gifts of mind, spirit, soul, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Body.
Speaker:You have to steward all that well or out of what?
Speaker:Well do you even have to give.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's a great question.
Speaker:So Jesus gets that.
Speaker:So when he is summarizing the law, he breaks it all down.
Speaker:Here's how you love God completely.
Speaker:All of the stuff I've you've been given.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And then love your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:That's good, man.
Speaker:That is so good.
Speaker:So I'm like, it's like I'm thinking so many of us in the church, we've been just taught, you know, like, well the spiritual development, that's the point.
Speaker:And then, I don't know, you go to like TV for the rest of it or something.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:It's like it's more
Speaker:holistic.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Is that like, like, okay, so you know how I'm gonna love people as I love myself really poorly.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:I'm not taking care of myself.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There's no time.
Speaker:I don't eat well, I don't have time for that.
Speaker:I don't have any time to work out.
Speaker:I don't have any quiet time.
Speaker:There's no meditational time.
Speaker:I mean, and I can blame it on all kinds of stuff.
Speaker:Well, I got kids, you know, I, I got a, I got a second job.
Speaker:I got a third job.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Um, you know, I'm caring for my mother and she's old and sick.
Speaker:It's like, yeah.
Speaker:Out of what?
Speaker:Well, and what are we modeling?
Speaker:We're gonna, we're gonna get to that.
Speaker:I love that, man.
Speaker:So it sounds like we're definitely called to both take care of ourselves and to take care of others with everything that we have.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mind and body, soul, spirit.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Why do you think this is important?
Speaker:What does this, like, what does this look like practically for us?
Speaker:I guess I was kind of dipping into that just a little bit there.
Speaker:Like, if we don't care for ourselves, if we're not healthy spiritually, emotionally, that's our psyche, right?
Speaker:Um, our bodies physically like, no, there's just no energy.
Speaker:Or, I'm.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:pre-diabetic.
Speaker:I'm crazy sick all the time.
Speaker:I'm never healthy, you know, I've got, I've had this forever.
Speaker:Oh, that's, we can help you, you know, fix that.
Speaker:Um, we, we only don't have much to give others, and then we'll use our tiredness and busyness as an excuse for setting up new boundaries.
Speaker:And I hear this all the time.
Speaker:Fried people who are doing all they can to like, sort of grow spiritually and look out for the spiritual needs of others are so physically sick and tired that then.
Speaker:Then they're, they're, they, they're, they, they're led towards these things called boundaries, and I need to set up boundaries.
Speaker:I've heard that a lot lately.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It, it's been big for 20 years.
Speaker:There's even books, whole books called and printed about that.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And, and I, and I, I'm not saying that there, I mean, I'm kind of talking about both sides of my mouth in a sense of Yeah, we need to care for ourself.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But.
Speaker:When you do and you trust the Holy Spirit that was breathed into you, giving you life for those boundaries, then you will have, you won't be constantly tired.
Speaker:You will have something to give.
Speaker:Your energy won't be based on what you got left in the tank after a crazy day.
Speaker:Am I Look at your life, brother.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You working super hard.
Speaker:You work long and hard.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:You're in school.
Speaker:Yeah, there's a lot going on.
Speaker:You got a house full of kids, someone else lives with you.
Speaker:I mean, you know, you are working on a marriage, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You're working on being a dad.
Speaker:You're working on, you know, being a friend.
Speaker:You're in community like crazy with people.
Speaker:If you try to do all that brother outta your own strength and spirit or just by putting boundaries around, and here's what boundaries usually look like.
Speaker:I go to church, uh, I'm done, or I work at a church.
Speaker:I get off at five.
Speaker:Boom, it's family time.
Speaker:Finally time's over.
Speaker:Then I watch TV till like 11.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It can't be
Speaker:that way.
Speaker:It's, it's what?
Speaker:There's no fluidity to that.
Speaker:And it also betrays.
Speaker:That we're still not believing The gospel affects every area of our life.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:This is the thing behind the thing.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Well said.
Speaker:And, and we, we what we end up displaying to ourselves, to our kids, to our neighbors, to that guy.
Speaker:You've been trying to like fall in love with Jesus, help 'em understand and how beautiful Jesus is.
Speaker:It, it, what we're putting on display is that the gospel doesn't redeem and address our whole life.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Man, that guy's a spiritual monster.
Speaker:You know, he's, he's a rockstar.
Speaker:But golly, he's like 50 pounds overweight and, and he's tired.
Speaker:Like, man, I've never seen a guy more tired.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If that's the life that Jesus came to give us.
Speaker:See, people are looking at us in our lives and they'll be shown how small the gospel is and, and the parts that it doesn't touch and, and how it seems primarily focused on spiritual afterlife.
Speaker:But it neglects to address and care for the whole person the whole life now.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's just not the gospel.
Speaker:So why do you think that so many Christians and even whole churches miss this and actually avoid caring for and addressing that the whole person, including their physical self and needs, need to be adjusted?
Speaker:Well, it, it's not one thing, but it, it's part of the reason why I started where I did.
Speaker:I think we have to understand how we've been made.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Been made in the image of a God who's triune, he's given us, he's created our bodies.
Speaker:Wonderfully, amazingly.
Speaker:Go read some of the Psalms, right?
Speaker:He's breathed his own breath of spirit into us giving us life and a spirit.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And he's given us a soul, a psyche, a self, the ability to choose right.
Speaker:And all that.
Speaker:And those are all gifts.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And if we don't see that, then we won't equally like steward them.
Speaker:But I also think that.
Speaker:Unfortunately the church has moved towards in addressing spiritual things with a me centered gospel of, you know, my personal relationship with God.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And my personal savior that individualism.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And my personal quiet time and all that.
Speaker:And individualism.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's how you see life spiritually.
Speaker:Well then you might also see body and soul that way too,
Speaker:huh?
Speaker:And.
Speaker:Think about it if we're quick to quote scripture or preach a message to folks sitting in silence or even point out sin in a person's life, but we rarely address their physical needs or the way they're caring for theirselves and their children.
Speaker:Well, you know,
Speaker:be issues.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We we're just creating problems because, because we see, we've kind of like degraded the whole thing into so much less than God created.
Speaker:Now think about it.
Speaker:If a person in our church was doing meth or crack.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like in the cafeteria after the service.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:We'd hopefully and probably address them and ask, you know, geez, what's going on and how could I help?
Speaker:But if in that same cafeteria line, we see them piling up their third plate of hot wings and whatever, and they're clearly having a problem with their health or weight.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:But there's, I, I mean, I, I'm not, I'm not picking on anybody.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Please, please, no one hear this, but we do have a problem with our health in America and fully 50% of Americans are at least somewhat overweight or 70, I think,
Speaker:geez,
Speaker:50% of these.
Speaker:It's, it's a lot.
Speaker:But we wouldn't address that.
Speaker:We'd never touch that issue.
Speaker:And I'm not saying in lying, you should hop on a person and, and just condemn them.
Speaker:I'm not that sure, not saying that.
Speaker:Uh uh, but in relationship.
Speaker:Would we ever talk to somebody about like, Hey, C, can, can we help with that?
Speaker:Or, here's what I'm learning.
Speaker:This is helping me care for my body and steward that part of my health better.
Speaker:Just like we might, Hey, I read this book, man.
Speaker:I grew spiritually.
Speaker:We, we don't have a problem with that, but why?
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Why not that or mental health?
Speaker:But we don't even know what to do with that.
Speaker:We don't even know where to go with that.
Speaker:But that's part of our psych, that's part of our soul, our mind, our mental health, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So it goes back to unbelief in the gospel.
Speaker:We so love ourselves and fear others.
Speaker:What they might think of us if we're to speak the truth and love to them in connection to, let's say, their health.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Or their work life and pace.
Speaker:I mean like try going after someone's work pace.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:Like the work.
Speaker:Good luck.
Speaker:Good luck.
Speaker:You're never gonna do it and you can't, can't risk it, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Can't risk doing it then.
Speaker:We're not believing that we fully have the love and acceptance of our father in heaven, that he loves us and he loves this person holistically too.
Speaker:So we actually desire their love and affection and value it higher than God's, which we already have.
Speaker:We won't address their health or their over reading or their pace or their attitude or mental health issues.
Speaker:We just won't do it.
Speaker:Or busyness.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So let me just remind us, Ephesians four, speaking the truth and love.
Speaker:We must grow up in every way into him.
Speaker:Who's the head in Christ speaking the truth in love?
Speaker:Golly, if our gospel's so small that it.
Speaker:Only, and even rarely, and maybe only from the pulpit or whatever, addresses spiritual things kind of once a week.
Speaker:But man, is it weird, Nikki and weird to, to address the rest of us as humans.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Physical, mental, psyche.
Speaker:Our souls, man.
Speaker:That's a small gospel.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And that's just, that's just not who God.
Speaker:Create us to be, and it's all, it's all, it's all important.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And, and, and someone say, well, but spiritual life's more equally important.
Speaker:Well, if you're dead, you're not growing spiritually If you're dead and you haven't come to Christ yet.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Tragic.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:If you're nuts.
Speaker:Then how are you gonna take care of yourself, your body, physically, and, and or be a part of a community?
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:So, absolutely.
Speaker:It's all there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And we wanna, we wanna weight things.
Speaker:One's more primarily, you know, more important than the other.
Speaker:I don't know if I see it that way in scripture.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:I, I don't see that's, I still don't see Jesus addressing things that way.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So what, what would you say are some practical tips that we could use to take care of ourselves?
Speaker:Uh, maybe in each one of these different areas, um, how can we steward and care for, for God's glory, all these different areas of our life?
Speaker:I'd say let's start by, I'm not gonna give exercise tips.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I'm not going to say this is what you h should be
Speaker:hot yoga
Speaker:or, yeah.
Speaker:This equals mental health.
Speaker:I, that's for different podcasts, different times.
Speaker:But what I would say is they're all important.
Speaker:Start by assessing where you're at in each of those three areas and there you where you wanna be.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Like, meaning, have you ever stopped to think, where do I wanna be spiritually?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Like, I'm here, but there's areas of my life that are still not like Christ, or I'm still living in unbelief and I wanna, I wanna grow, I wanna mature, I wanna steward my spiritual life.
Speaker:I know I'm saved, I know I'm loved, but I wanna spirit, like, have you ever stopped and written those things down?
Speaker:And then, you know, who can you talk to about it?
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, like what, what's one thing.
Speaker:You wanna begin to move towards health and growth in every area.
Speaker:And, and then like, and when specifically, and with who will you begin to address that area of either spiritual health or growth or in your physical life or in your soul.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Who are you gonna do this with and how and when are you gonna begin to address it and create new pathways and rhythms for health?
Speaker:So let's take these one at a time for your physical health, right?
Speaker:It's part of who we are.
Speaker:How do we care for ourselves?
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:What's the very next most basic step that you could take to steward that gift from God?
Speaker:Your body?
Speaker:Is it, is it starting to go for a walk daily?
Speaker:Is it I gotta start drinking six ounce of water?
Speaker:Is it sharing a certain physical need, uh, and a desire to change that with a friend and praying together about next steps?
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And remember, God loves you fully right now.
Speaker:He gave you that body, but he desires wholeness and health.
Speaker:In every area of your life, including your physical health.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:What about, uh, for your spiritual health?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:For your spiritual health?
Speaker:Um, are you trying to live this life of Christ, your spiritual life in isolation?
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Um, are you actively participating in community and I'm talking about sitting in row on a Sunday?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Are you, are you in a community that's doing life together in Christ?
Speaker:Are you submitting to the work of the spirit in your life as he speaks to you directly and through others?
Speaker:That's how we grow spiritually.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's everything addressed by Christ is that way.
Speaker:It was to his disciples.
Speaker:It was to communities.
Speaker:Go and make disciples in community.
Speaker:God added to the number daily.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:What areas of unbelief about God and yourself or your relationships, your, your parenting, your marriage, are you still clinging to that?
Speaker:They're false?
Speaker:Who can you talk to about this and then begin to grow and learn in this area?
Speaker:Are there classes you could take?
Speaker:Is there a course?
Speaker:Like, like, where are you at in your spiritual health and where would you like to be?
Speaker:How can you get started?
Speaker:Like you, you'll, you'll know.
Speaker:I don't have to tell you.
Speaker:The spirit right now is speaking to you.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And then third, for your soul, your psyche, your personality.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:This one gets a little more prickly.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:What areas of your life and relationships are being affected perhaps negatively by you right now, or your attitude in a certain area?
Speaker:Or an aspect of your personality that's not yet.
Speaker:Like Jesus, we all have 'em.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:It shouldn't be weird.
Speaker:It shouldn't be like that.
Speaker:Prickly.
Speaker:We all have stuff.
Speaker:Ask your spouse, right?
Speaker:He'll tell you.
Speaker:She'll tell you.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Ask your kids.
Speaker:Scary.
Speaker:What part of daddy, you know, what part of mom are like my per, you know, like there's something about me that kind of bugs you or offends you or shames you.
Speaker:Like, wow.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Step back.
Speaker:That's part of our personality.
Speaker:That's part of our soul, our psyche.
Speaker:What part are what?
Speaker:What are you believing about yourself that you beat yourself up on?
Speaker:Awareness and humility are the beginning of gaining wisdom and growth in these areas.
Speaker:So find out and then submit it to the spirit and others.
Speaker:But see, most of this will be too.
Speaker:Right now we're hearing that and we go like, wow, this sounds good.
Speaker:I'll never do it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well,
Speaker:how quick are you to steward your spiritual health over and against your mental health or your psyche?
Speaker:Your soul?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Are you getting time away to rest?
Speaker:Like, I'll tell you one of the biggest things for my soul
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Is days of solitude.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:You know, soul Care.
Speaker:You think Soul care.
Speaker:It's like get a lot of counseling, read a read, tons of books.
Speaker:Mm. Some of it, yeah, sure.
Speaker:I read a lot.
Speaker:Soul Care, IE who God's made me to be, my personality.
Speaker:Who's Caesar?
Speaker:How Caesar interacting with people, all that.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Man, time away.
Speaker:Walking, thinking, listening to God, jotting down things, then coming home and saying, Hey, spirit was pointing this out in this out, honey.
Speaker:True.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You agree with him?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:That's good, man.
Speaker:Hey, we have to, uh, get to the big three and the big three.
Speaker:There's obviously tons of things we could take away from this episode, but we'd like to say that the big three are.
Speaker:The three takeaways we want you to have, if we could boil down this episode in a couple points,
Speaker:so to think about, believe right in your head, believe in your heart, and then get started.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Use head, heart hands.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You can get those by going to everyday Disciple dot com slash Big three.
Speaker:Caesar, what would the big three be for this week?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:A bit of a summary of sorts and a bit of a sort of marching orders.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:First one, please know this.
Speaker:You are a holistic being.
Speaker:Created with a body, a spirit, and a soul.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And God created you this way and he cares for you completely.
Speaker:All of it.
Speaker:Not just your spiritual life.
Speaker:Love that.
Speaker:If you're in Christ, he's already dealt with your sin.
Speaker:So he's probably more concerned with the other three, the other two, I mean.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:As you value and steward your life in all these areas, you become more mature, more like.
Speaker:Jesus wasn't walking around like spiritually a plus.
Speaker:Physically,
Speaker:physically, emotionally, ed out.
Speaker:No Uhuh, and and you know what?
Speaker:And you'll better display what our good God and his son and kingdom's about as you grow and mature and steward all three areas.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:Second, God created you good in all of these three areas, okay?
Speaker:You have the body, the soul, and the spirit and that he gave you, and he knows your needs.
Speaker:Areas of growth and desires to use them in your life, to grow you in your trust, in your relationship with him.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:God loves you completely.
Speaker:Now, as you're growing and changing in maturity, okay, you'll never lose his love.
Speaker:You'll never earn a little bit more, you'll never, you know, throw your actions or like, I'm gonna get up early and start hitting the gym, or, sure, I'm gonna read more of the scripture.
Speaker:I'm gonna pray a little long.
Speaker:None of that will gain you any more of his love.
Speaker:He loves you completely and he's made you just the way he wants you in all three areas.
Speaker:To grow your relationship with him and grow your trust of him as you learn to steward and trust him in those things.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Third, ask the sign.
Speaker:Get started.
Speaker:Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the areas of your life right now that he desires for you to steward in some new ways.
Speaker:Don't be content with having your Christian life primarily address just your spiritual life.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And perhaps maybe only once or twice a week if that stop hiding behind the excuse of trying to be nice by not speaking the truth and love to others.
Speaker:Offering to help walk with them and then with you as you together grow in all three areas of your life, your body health, your, your physical health, your, your spiritual health, and your mental health.
Speaker:Those are really helpful Caesar.
Speaker:So thanks for giving us those big three.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's, it's a lot to think through right away.
Speaker:I know like some people would rather have marching orders, you know?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Like, okay, here's the one thing in each chair that Caesar does.
Speaker:But it's like, eh, everybody's life's different.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:and I think the thing that you said even earlier in the episode that was super helpful is like, it doesn't have to be.
Speaker:When you're looking at like a, a physical health, you don't have to like, I'm getting down to my ideal weight right now.
Speaker:Like, let's just do little steps.
Speaker:If it's just, you can start with a walk this afternoon or tomorrow morning, get up 10 minutes earlier.
Speaker:Stewardship isn't about arrival.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:It's
Speaker:about the journey and realizing it's a gift, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So small steps in this,
Speaker:in all those areas, your life.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Not just once.
Speaker:So absolutely, truly caring for yourself.
Speaker:Is caring for all three.
Speaker:Yep, absolutely.
Speaker:And
Speaker:being cool with it.
Speaker:Again, you can get the free download of this week's Big three takeaways by going to everyday Disciple dot com slash big three, and we'll get those over to you.
Speaker:Also, we wanna invite you to our Facebook group.
Speaker:It's growing, our listenership keeps growing, which is really fun and encouraging.
Speaker:Uh, so if you go to, uh, Facebook and search in the search bar on our Everyday Disciple Podcast, we'll preview you to that group.
Speaker:That's where Caesar and I jump on and have conversations about, about these episodes.
Speaker:That's how you
Speaker:can talk to us directly.
Speaker:Yeah, look at that.
Speaker:They can hammer us for something I said in this episode.
Speaker:Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker:For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit everyday Disciple dot com and remember.
Speaker:You really can live with a spiritual freedom and relational peace that Jesus promised every day.