Soul Care Part 1: Reviving Your SoulПримерок

What is the soul?

The Bible doesn’t have one verse that provides a dictionary definition. But there are many references that help us to understand what it is.

First, the soul is the non-physical part of you that makes you – you. The human soul is central to your personhood. As George MacDonald said, “You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” Repeatedly in the Bible, people are referred to as “souls.”

Second, it is the part of you that is eternal. It is the part of every human being that lasts eternally after the body experiences death. Genesis 35:18 describes the death of Rachel, Jacob’s wife, saying she named her son “as her soul was departing.” From this we know that the soul is different from the body and that it continues to live after physical death.

Third, it is the most important dimension of you. Your soul is the real you. In fact, Jesus claimed that there is nothing more important. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his very soul?” (Mark 8:36)

So, a simple working definition of the soul is the immaterial, eternal life center of human beings.

In some ways, you’re like an iceberg – there’s the part people see, but there’s also all the stuff they don’t see, the stuff beneath the surface. We tend to settle for taking care of what others see – like chasing SUCCESS – instead of tending our SOUL. But if your soul is the most important part of you, it must be properly cared for. It needs to be tended like a garden. God made it and it needs a keeper – and that keeper is you. Your soul needs to be tended like a garden to thrive in the way your Maker intended.

Your soul will be revived as you learn to live your life WITH God.

Ask Yourself:

- Which part of me gets most of my attention, my soul or the parts people can see? What is the evidence?

Pause to Pray:

God, You made me and You care for me. Open my eyes and heart to your work in my soul this week…

Take a Next Step:

- Take 5 minutes to schedule time to complete part 1 of Soul Care this week.