Does God really care about physical things?


The last time, I responded to an article about people's beliefs regarding God's ability to heal dying or terminally ill people. According to the article, a LOT of people think that God does just that in response to prayer on behalf of the dying. My question was this; is it always a good idea to ask for God's intervention? Biblical evidence suggests that asking God to reverse His will and extend our lives doesn't go well for us!


So, after that brief review, another question arises; does God really care all that much about our condition here on earth? I mean, what is God's primary concern? Does He care more about our physical well-being, or our spiritual well-being? Well, IMHO, it's important to phrase it just that way, as a matter of priority, because God apparently cares about every aspect of us, period!


What does that mean? Well, what it says is... 9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So, God apparently cares for our physical well-being enough that He will provide those things that we need when we ask. But what is God's deepest heart-felt concern about us? Does he care more about those sorts of physical needs, or does He care more about spiritual concerns; those things that will have everlasting impact?


I'd have to say that God cares a great deal more about matters of the spirit!


In John 3, Jesus teaches us about the importance of the spirit:


"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."



Speaking to a Samaritan woman, Jesus added to this thesis:



"Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

So, if God is a spirit, doesn't it stand to reason that God would care more about matters of the spirit?

I started this post a couple of weeks ago. Since then, a major hurricane struck our very area and now there are people in the thousands who are homeless, without jobs, and doubtful about God's intent for their lives.

The bible says that God will not test you beyond your limits, but a lot of people have been tested beyond the limit of their faith and they now ask, "How can a loving God allow these sorts of things to happen?"

The bible says that God causes rain to fall on the just and unjust alike. Sometimes, bad things happen to good people for the same reason. Frankly, some of the best lessons I've ever learned came from things that I wouldn't have wished for on the front end. Since Sunday, I've listened to a lot of people whine about not having power.

Uhhh.....that's what happens in hurricanes, people! If you don't like the consequences of hurricanes, move someplace where it's not one of your worries!

Instead of complaining, I praise God for sending us really cool weather to follow the storm! I praise God for leaving our house with relatively minor damage and for getting us through our evacuation and return with no incidents! I thank God for health, food, a good job, the most wonderful wife any man has ever had, and every other good thing that has ever happened to me.

But God has sent me some less than favorable things as well and I praise Him for those things as well. Each has made me stronger.

Bottom line; God cares about every aspect of our lives, but He cares more about the destination of our eternal souls than those things that are here today and gone tomorrow.