Did you know that Jesus is referenced in 1 Peter as the Guardian of our souls? (1 Peter 2:25)

I’ve been listening to Dallas Willard lately and have been fascinated by his teachings on the soul.  Wow, there is so much to be gleaned from these messages! To hear him paint a word picture on how magnificent and vast is the soul is, and how it was created by and for God, is a tremendous thought! So often we don’t give much thought to our soul, or may not completely understand the distinction between body, soul, and spirit. It’s easy to think of our body as being the sum of who we are. Here are few excerpts from his teaching:

Losing your soul is not about going to hell, it’s about losing your soul! It’s someone trading their soul for what they think will save their lives. The life you’re going to lose by trying to save it is the one the world has told you is your life. We have been told who we are by the world around us, and we so often believe it. The truth is, spending your whole life dealing with your body as if it is your soul is called idolatry! 

Death and pain and shame come when we focus on the body. If we don’t understand that we have a way to step out of the thought that our body is the sum of who we are, then we are susceptible to trading our soul to the world.

There is a Being – God – who is sufficient in Himself.  He has LIFE in Himself – He was not created; He is the Creator. When you come down to living your life, you have to choose whether you’re going to live from THAT BEING [GOD] OR you’re going to live in terms of beings which are finite, dependent. That is your choice between the flesh and the spirit.

You can know the reality of God to your soul that is so great that it will not matter what happens to you. To abide in Him means to draw from Him the reality of our lives.

God has not put us in a world where we can’t make a mistake.  It’s the fallacy of the Pharisee to believe that the object of life is to always be right.

Our spirit is the God-connection to our soul.  Anyone who may read my posts on a regular basis may have seen me write a lot about this. Consider that when man fell, not only did our spirit die but our soul – the mind, will, and emotions –became disconnected from God as a result.  This changed the entire way we received information.  Our souls no longer receiving directly from God Himself through the spirit connection, but rather we now began to receive from our five senses instead – from what we see, what we hear, how we feel, and so on. 

So… here is a wild thought! I learned not long ago that the ancient Israelites only occupied about 15% of the land the Lord had given to them. When I heard this, the first thought that came to mind was from Dallas Willard’s teaching – how vast and magnificent our soul is.  The crazy thought is, if we think in terms of the territory of our soul, could the physical representation of the tribes of Israel only occupying 15% of the land God had given them be analogous to the “soul” territory God has given us? 

What an odd picture that paints, of the soul as a territory – perhaps big like the United States.  Can you imagine only a small corner of the United States being occupied?  One who is born of the Spirit has that direct connection with God restored. If this is you, the result might be you, standing on the Plymouth Rock of your soul, looking out across the vast expansiveness. So much to explore! So much waiting to be occupied!

How much of our soul have we welcomed the Holy Spirit to come in and transform?

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  – Mark 8:35 – 37