Cries of a Curious Follower

Billy Joel had it right, sort of, when he put that song on an album. It is all about soul, just not the exact way he meant it.

The Soul–that piece of us that makes us us. We are a soul, after all, stuck in a body.

In Hebrew, Nephesh—a living being. Made not just from “clay” (Adamah) but also from breath–Spirit. In Greek, Psyche.

That’s where the battle is, for real. That’s the part where we struggle. For those who have been “born again” (like actually no longer dead in their transgressions because of their death and rebirth into Christ), we are no longer just a soul in a body, but also a spirit being outside the “box” of this 4D world. This is why Paul is forever saying in scripture to walk according the spirit and not the flesh.

Where does that happen? Where is this choice made? Where is this struggle?

In the soul.

One scripture that truly sums it all up for me is this:

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 
for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Php 2:12–13.

Once I really sat with this—swam in it—lived in it until I understood its depth and breadth, I realized that it is ALL ABOUT PARTNERSHIP in the soul.

I am saved—my spirit man is done. I didn’t earn it and I cannot improve upon it. Saved from my own sin, from this pathetic human condition in a fallen world. Alive with the true hope of eternity with Him (can’t wait!).

The fact is I’m not there yet. My body and soul are stuck in this box . . . in time. And that is where the work is.

Where I fight doubt and anxiety.

Where I feel hurt and petty.

Where I get confused and want to give up sometimes.

But in that scripture is an invitation that I must act on every day—I must work out the struggle to do what is right and in that intentional fight for good, I am not alone. He is with me, working IN ME to help me get there.

This is a daily decision.

Today, however, took a dip in this lovely pool of truth:

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Col 3:23–24.

That word: heartily. It is the same. Psyche. My soul. My life essence.

It’s all about soul. So, then, when my heart is really in what I’m doing, one might say I am INTENTIONAL. And that is what I really see around me. That is the invisible war that is only hidden by the smoke and mirrors of social media, political bias, cultural lies, and a fallen nature.

We can’t make people see things our way, but we love our enemies.

We can work hard to understand their point of view, gain empathy, and listen more.

The struggle is real, but its not about what our eyes see. In fact, its not about this world at all. It is about the next one. But while we wait for that, we have work to do. And that work requires humility, love that costs us, and sincerity of sacrifice.

It requires intentionality. And that is only fueled, truly, by the kind of love Christ has for us. We cannot give what we do not have.

Today, I receive His love fresh and new. And when I do that—actually live in it—then it changes me. And in that I am free to share it with others. Why? Because it is not longer about me.

It is about Him. And what is important to Him? Them. All of us. Every living soul. I please Him by loving them with a love that cannot be manufactured.

My love has limits. His does not.

Let’s go.