Stretching Your Soul
Bobby Dockery
1/7/98
Stretching Your Soul
A man went to a blacksmith shop one morning to pick up a horseshoe which had been mended. When he started to pay for the work he was told there would be no charge for the job. Insistently, he tried to force the money into the blacksmith’s hand. The blacksmith’s reply is worth remembering. Again refusing payment, he said,
Ed, can’t you let a man do something now and then - just to stretch his soul?
What a provocative thought! A man needs to stretch his soul? But how is it done?
Communion with God stretches the soul.
Paul spoke of some whose souls were diseased and shriveled because their worship was defective.
I Corinthians 11.30. A proper sense of reverence and awe in the presence of God expands our spiritual perception. Large souls are developed through long hours of prayer, praise, worship, and devotion.
Bible Study stretches the soul.
The study of the Bible is a broadening experience. Peter counsels us to
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. I Peter 2.2. A genuine attempt to deal honestly with the word of God will make us bigger, better people.
Kindness stretches the soul.
To be kind is to be Godlike for
He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Luke 6.35. Christianity is the religion of the Second Mile, the Good Samaritan, the Alabaster Box, and the Golden Rule. Jesus was the Man who went about doing good.
Acts 10.38. Large hearts make for large souls!
Forgiveness stretches the soul.
Spiritual health is conditioned upon our willingness to forgive. Jesus said
Forgive and ye shall be forgiven. Luke 6.37. Resentment, hatred, and grudge-bearing are constricting bands which pinch and squeeze the soul. The refusal to forgive leads to the miniaturization of the soul.
Sacrifice stretches the soul.
Give, Jesus said,
and it shall be given unto you. Luke 6.38. Few people are willing to commit themselves to the soul-building discipline of sacrificial giving. Few set their giving at a level which represents real sacrifice. How sad that many souls are stunted and undernourished because they have never learned the meaning of sacrifice.
Service stretches the soul.
Service is the crux of Christianity.
Jesus came not to be served but to serve. Matthew 20.28. He told his disciples that
whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Matthew 20.27. Jesus illustrated the meaning of service by washing His disciples’ feet.
John 13.14. The extent of our service is the measure of our soul.
Dr. Kenneth Hildebrand has succinctly observed:
One of life’s greatest tragedies is the person with a ten-by-twelve capacity and a two-by-four soul. May we strain to enlarge our souls to the maximum capacity so that we may be stretched to the dimensions of God!
—Bobby Dockery
Fayetteville, AR
