How do we love God with all our soul?
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The Soul.
The soul is that inner being
of a person that knits him or her to all creation and especially to the rest of
humanity.
o
Matt. 16:25-26: Whoever wishes to save his soul shall lose it; whoever loses his soul
shall find it; what does a man profit if he gains the whole world and forfeits
his soul; what can a man give in exchange for his soul.
o
The above verses make clear just how vital the
soul of a person is to him. God created
all mankind in His image. But the disobedience of man, initiated by
Adam and found to be presence in every person since then (with the exception of
the Christ), robbed men of something essential to their being. Thus we are all in search of significance, of
that which was lost. Jesus calls it saving your soul.
o
When a person comes to Christ they lose their soul; they no longer are
searching for what was missing. Instead
they find Him and find in Him the deep satisfaction that was the object of
their search. Jesus is the perfect Soul, the one who IS the embodiment of soul-satisfaction. What we could not find in ourselves and our valiant
attempts to be at rest we find in Christ.
o
That is why Jesus was said, if anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and
children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life (soul) also, he cannot be
My disciple (Lk. 14:26). Those
relationships that mean so much to us, including our own self-love, are part of
our broken soul. They will not satisfy if our relationship
with Christ is not first and foremost.
That explains the mess we experience in those relationships.
o
Let us now simply meditate on the following
passages to see when helps and what hurts us as we seek to love God with all
our soul.
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Matt. 11:29: Take
My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you
will find rest for your souls. Rest is a term for soul satisfaction.
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James 1:21: Therefore
lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness
the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
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1 Peter 2:11: Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
lusts which was against the soul. It
is interesting that fleshly lusts,
which are the sum total of our search for significance apart from a
love-relationship with our Creator, actually are at war with the soul. It’s not simply that they are empty; they are
antagonistic!
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2 Peter 2:8: This speaks of Lot, Abraham’s nephew,
who chose to immerse his life in Sodom, a city that was full of
wickedness. For that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous
soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.
May we gladly love the
Lord our God with ALL our soul!
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