Balancing The Soul

Ever wonder why your Christian walk seems to be erratic? Why you just can’t seem to have a stable Christian walk with God and people?

This is a complex question, but one worth investigating. Just because the question is hard doesn’t mean we should avoid it. The soul itself is often a mysterious topic, and most writers in the last 50-75 years don’t refer to the soul much at all if ever. If you go back 100 years or more there was a lot of discussion about the soul and it’s importance. Writers in the past spent their whole life trying to understand the soul and it’s function.

Today, if a writer or commentary refers to the soul they say it’s not important, only a person spirit is what’s important because they say our soul will be lost when we die and only our spirit survives. First, this is totally false as the soul and the spirit are often the same word in Hebrew as well as greek being “breath” or air. Now I am no scholar, but there is a enough passages of scripture to see that the soul and the spirit often are inseparably link to each person. Secondly, they assume the soul fades when a person dies. King David wrote about the soul a lot.

Ps 16:10

For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

Ps 19:7)

The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

Ps 25:1-2

To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in You I trust, Do not let me be ashamed; Do not let my enemies exult over me.

The spirit of a person is what God gave to each person to give them life. The soul is what makes up the particular person in their mind, will and emotions. I believe that the soul has everything to do with the make-up of the individual and the personality that goes with it. When a person dies, their personality and all that they learned while living on the earth goes with them. Our bodies won’t distinguish us as much as who we really were. Remember Jesus after the resurrection? People didn’t recognize him unless he helped them out. He did have the nail prints in his hands and feet, but other than that it seems his new body was different. I don’t know about you, but I am grateful that my new body will be an upgrade!

Needless to say, understanding what are soul is and how it works will better equip us to focus our attention on the things that need help in our lives. If we can get a handle on different aspects of our soul, our Christian walk will start looking like what Jesus said it should become. Being born again according to John 3 with Nicodemus, is about the beginning of a walk with God. Before a person is born again, they may have a fear or respect of God, but not a true relationship were our past is forgiven and our future is connected to God himself. Paul talked about this when he wrote to the Corinthian church.

2 Co 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he isa new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

The idea Paul is speaking about is that a person’s soul has to come in line with God and resolve the past in order to have an ongoing relationship. When that happens everything essentially becomes new, because the life we now live is one in harmony with God instead of rebellion.

Let me ask the question:

Are you trying to be a Christian without resolving your past rebellion? You may say your were not that bad of a person, but if you were in-charge of your life you were a rebel none the less. God intended us to live in harmony with him and others. Coming to Christ means surrendering our lives to his authority and “then” he cleaned from our past sins … not before!

May the Holy Spirit help us to surrender to the Great Love of Our Souls and see the transformation we all want.

Pastor Dale