Let me first greet you all, “A happy and blessed new year!”
We can hardly believe it is now 2024! We thank and praise God for spiritually sustaining us last year.
This year, it is our earnest desire to continue serving the Lord. Serving God is what we do until rapture. But on this first day of 2024, it is good to be reminded that we need more than just to continue in the faith. We need to grow. We need to mature. Ephesians 4:13 NIV says it is God’s will that we “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
A key element to our spiritual growth is engaging in spiritual disciplines. Let me use this illustration: to remain physically sound, we know we have to pay attention to certain aspects of our lifestyle – nutrition, staying physically active, managing stress, sleep, and other health-promoting factors.
It is not much different when it comes to our spiritual health. We need to intentionally pursue spiritual disciplines for us to not only stay healthy spiritually but to grow and become mature. For example, we need spiritual nutrition (the Word), and we need to remain active in the faith (being involved in church activities).
Additionally, as adequate sleep is needed to stay physically healthy, we must get the rest our soul needs for us to be spiritually sound. All exercise and no rest is not beneficial, if not harmful, to the body. Likewise, all serving and no spiritual respite or rest is not spiritually sound. This is what the Lord was telling Martha when He wanted her to sit at His feet, too, and listen to Him, as her sister Mary was doing, (Luke 10:38-42).
This is where SPA comes in (Spiritual Place of Accord). SPA is us pausing from our busy lives and sitting at the feet of our Lord. SPA is all about providing our soul the care it needs for our spiritual well-being. SPA is making sure our soul remains sound and intact. When we neglect our souls, we suffer spiritual illnesses and maladies, leading to spiritual death.
That is why I strongly believe we must do more soul-care activities this year. While physical self-care is of great importance, soul-care is of more value. Soul care is actually an urgent, life-and-death matter that we need to address daily. According to 1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV), For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present and the life to come.
This year, my dear sisters, we all need to endeavour to do soul-care. This is the goal of SPA. The word spa is related with physical care, SPA (spiritual place of accord) is for our soul-care, or spiritual care. Unlike going to the spa, SPA is free. It is according to our own schedule, and we can do it anywhere – at home, at work, or during commute. Best of all, SPA’s benefits are deeply gratifying and lasting. It is not fleeting. It is increasing our eternal harvests or righteousness.
How can we do SPA? In this write-up, I will give general suggestions, and in the future, I will give specific examples. We can do SPA by taking time to meditate on bible scriptures. I purposefully did not say bible reading. Yes, bible reading and meditation are two different things. Meditation requires pausing, thinking, reflecting, even asking questions, such as, “How does this verse apply to me?,” or “What is God trying to tell me through this verse?”.
Journaling or writing, simple singing or listening to worship songs, or simply tarrying in the presence of God in prayer are SPA activities. The point of SPA is to take time to slow down so as to enrich our spirituality.
So there you have it: soul-care. We need to do it more this year. We need it in order for us to increase in strength and to be mature. We need it to enjoy long, vibrant, and enjoyable service unto the Lord.
Have a blessed day, and happy SPA-ing. God bless you!
With love,
Ptr. Gen
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