As most of you know by
now, I’m a history buff (some say nut) and as such I really appreciate all of
the “history” channels available on TV. It was the watching of one of
these channels the other night that’s responsible for today’s editorial.
I was watching a program
about a doctor back in the 1800's who was seemingly obsessed by a subject that
probably most of us would never even consider. He wanted to know how much
the soul of a person weighed. He was the presiding doctor at a hospital
for people suffering from “consumption.”
Back in that day and
time, “consumption disease” was what we now call tuberculosis and, if you look
up the word “consumption” you’ll find that it means to “use up
something.” Thus, because a person afflicted with that disease basically
wasted away, it was apropos to call it “consumption.” And, back then
there was really nothing medically that could be done to cure it and they
simply made the patient as comfortable as possible and watched them die.
Because of the doctor’s
position at the hospital and the fact that he was present at so many deaths, he
devised an experiment whereby he could determine if a soul had a measurable
“weight.” He set up some scales that a person very near death could
be placed upon and noted the body’s weight when alive and then immediately
after death occurred.
It is not the point of
my lesson today to debate or argue with the doctor’s findings as I’m not sure
that his method was very scientific nor his results accurate. It was his
determination, from all his life/death weighing experiments, that a person’s
“soul” weighed approximately “one-half an ounce.” No, it just serves to
make me do some consideration of my soul and perhaps cause others to consider
theirs.
Let me just start off by
looking at the word “weight.” The dictionary will give you a number of
different definitions based upon the usage of that word. A couple of
those I’ll use for our thoughts here today.
The first one I’ll
mention is that the word “weight” refers to an “expression of the heaviness of
an object.” Probably what we think of when we hear or use the word.
Another definition is “a mental or moral burden,” as in having cares or
responsibilities. I think that the Bible talks about both types of
“weights” and the rest of our lesson will be devoted to looking at some the
thoughts found therein.
The first passage I’d
like you to consider with me is the familiar one found in Hebrews 12, verse 1:
“Therefore, since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight,
and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is
set before us.”
Let’s look at some
points in that verse that I find interesting and appropriate to our
topic. The “race that is
set before us” is our lives here on earth. Isn’t it pretty
easily seen that if one is going to run a race, the last thing the runner wants
is to have “weights” hanging on them? That a “weight” would be a
hindrance to being able to run and finish a race?
Which brings me to my
next observation regarding this verse - that the word “weight” equals
“sin.” Now, remember we’re talking about our “soul” here and tying our
lesson thoughts into the doctor’s attempt to determine the “weight of a
soul.” Here’s where I will make an observation regarding the doctor’s
findings. Perhaps he should have figured out an experiment to determine
the “weight of a sin” as it affects the soul.
It’s not hard to form a
mental picture of a soul struggling down the track with numerous “weights”
(burdens) hanging on it, is it? And that’s exactly what we do to our soul
when we live sinful lives - we hang unnecessary “weights” on our soul.
And, you know what else? We may not even realize the burdens we put on
our souls because God’s Word also tells us about the “deceitfulness of sin”
(Heb. 3:13).
Ok, let’s switch over to
our second definition of “weight” - the “mental or moral burden.” The one
that relates to our having cares and/or responsibilities. You know,
sometimes we let things other than sin weigh us down. Things that keep us
from doing our duty towards God and His commandments.
I’m referring to letting
things such as physical problems get in our way. We all have ailments,
don’t we? We all are afflicted in some form or fashion. And we need
to remember this, that only we and God know whether an ailment truly inhibits
us from a duty. I think that we can sometimes let our ailments become a
“mental or moral burden” to our soul.
One of the best passages
I know of and one that always gives relief to my soul is something the Apostle
Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. Note what he said to them in 2Cor.
4:16-17: “So we do
not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature
is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is
preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”
Think about it this
way. Like everything else on or about this earthly life, our ailments are
only “temporary.” That being the case, why would we want to let the
“weight” of something temporary keep our soul from inheriting “an eternal weight of glory?”
When we put it that way, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, does it?
I don’t know whether my
soul has a “heaviness weight” or not but, I do know that I can certainly add
“weight” to it in the manner that I live my life on earth. That I can
“weigh” it down to the point that it might fail to make it to the finish
line. And I know that I have a responsibility to NOT burden my soul to
the point that it collapses under the “weight” of sin and “come short of the glory of God.”
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey
