Just where is our soul and what does it do? These might be questions a child might ask but by the time we reach adulthood we’ve given up on such quandaries. We’ve settled for ill defined terms regarding our soul. If God wants us to love him with all our soul, we should make a valiant effort to discover just what one is.
The word “soul” is used 129 times in 125 verses in the New International Version. The New Bible Dictionary defines it as follows. “The use of the word ‘soul’ may emphasize his individuality and vitality with emphasis on his inner life and feeling and personal consciousness.” In other words the soul is what distinguishes us as individuals in our inner life. But how does that explain how to love God with our soul.
We must realize that although the text distinguishes between heart, soul, mind, and strength that what Jesus is trying to get over is that we are to love God with the totality of who we are and not to compartmentalize our spiritual lives. Having said that, it is important to distinguish our, “psyche” as a tangible part of who we are. Although we may never be able to ascertain exactly where our soul is located we can see expressions of it in our personality traits, the twinkle in our eyes, the joy in our laughter, and various other aspects of our life. Our soul is the life giving force which animates our body.
We must do everything we can to make sure it’s healthy.
There are elements of the soul which we may not be able to define but we can sure detect when they are diseased with fear, doubt, guilt, depression, bitterness and a host of other maladies.
As we consider our soul’s health, maybe a checkup is in order. Have we lost our zest for living, for relationship, for God. Let’s get on the road to recovery by reestablishing the health of our souls.
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