Renovation of the Heart
Transforming the Soul (2|4)
Pages 211-216
• Performance, Fanaticism, and the Broken Soul
• Our Strategy Here
• God Has a Soul
• Applied to the Human Soul: Biblical Cases
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
Matthew 16:26 (NIV) “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
1 Peter 2:11 (NIV) Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.
James 1:21 (NIV) Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
1 Peter 1:22 (NIV) Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
Performance, Fanaticism, and the Broken Soul
“Performance presupposes an artificial context in which some portion of life, action, or experience is present as a whole, meaningful, unique, flowing - transcendent to ordinary existence. - Performance means competence and must eliminate illusion. Mere ‘acting’ will not do. - It will further help us to understand the reality of the soul in life if we see how fanaticism comes in. Fanaticism - in art, politics, sports, or religion, to name some of the main kinds - is the result of inherently meaningless lives becoming obsessed with performance and then trying to take all of their existence into it.”
Why is meaninglessness such a problem for modern life? Is it a soul problem? Why does fanaticism have such an attraction for the broken soul?
Our Strategy Here
“Our soul is like an inner stream of water, which gives strength, direction, and harmony to every other element of our lives. When that stream is as it should be, we are constantly refreshed and exuberant in all we do, because the soul itself is then profusely rooted in the vastness of God and his kingdom, including nature, and all else within us is enlivened and directed by that stream. Therefore we are in harmony with God, reality, and the rest of human nature and nature at large.”
Do you find the image of the soul as “an inner stream of water” intelligible? Helpful in understanding the Psalms, and so on?
God Has a Soul
“Many people are surprised to learn that God too, has a soul and even translators of the Bible often do not seem to know what to do about it. - The heart of the matter is that to refer to someone’s soul is to say something about the ultimate depths of his or her being and something that cannot be communicated by using terms like person or self or various available pronouns.”
What is your response to this statement?
Can you explain the meaning of the passages below?
Jeremiah 6:8 (KJV) “Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make desolate, a land not inhabited”
Jeremiah 6:8 (NRSV) “… or I shall turn from you in disgust.”
Jeremiah 6:8 (NIV) “… or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so no one can live in it.”
Jeremiah 9:9 (KJV) “Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?”
Jeremiah 9:9 (NRSV) “On a nation as this shall I not avenge Myself?”
Jeremiah 9:9 (NIV) “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?”
Applied to the Human Soul: Biblical Cases
“Your whole life is no longer under the direction of your inner stream of life, which has been taken over by exteriors. - The book of Psalms is, of course, the great ‘soul book’ in the Bible, simply because it, more than any other, deals with life in its depths and with our fundamental relationship to the one who is the Keeper of our souls (Psalm 121:7) - The water image naturally stands out in these passages because of the similarity of water to the nourishing flow of God’s life from which the soul draws its strength and direction. - The soul is the most basic level of life in the individual and one that is by nature rooted in God. We must take care to do whatever we can to keep it in his hands, recognizing all the while that we can only do this with his help.”
How do we take care to do whatever we can to keep our soul in his hands? Do you have a favorite Psalm that speaks about the soul?
EXTRA READING:
“Our spirit should be quick to reach out toward God, not only when it is engaged in meditation upon Him; at other times also when it is carrying out its duties, caring for the needy, performing works of charity, or giving generously in the service of others. Our spirit should long for God and call him to mind, so that these works may be seasoned with the salt of God’s love, and so make a palatable offering to the Lord of the universe.”
- John Chrysostom (347 - 407)