Today, I write a “soul” blog! It’s for that unseen living essence in all of us that defines who we really are even more than do our bodies. I’m working with the understanding that if we can heal and strengthen our very souls, we can also do better, more financially profitable work on a daily basis and help our physical bodies be healthier!
Note: In the Greek, “soul” is sometimes interchangeable with “spirit” and is most often that which is comprised of our mind, will, and emotions. It can be unseen, or it can be what was represented as departing to heaven or hell in the famously romantic movie Ghost, with Patrick Suazy and Demi Moore.
Fair warning: What I discuss today is considered fantasy-hooey by secularists! If you’re one of them, approach warily.
Okay, here we go…
Even having a college degree and a masters, there’s still a whole heck of a lot of things in life that I still don’t comprehend — especially in areas I haven’t formally studied. For instance, how can all the small muscles in my face, in a certain configuration, convey my exact emotion to someone who knows me well? Think about it…it’s a psychological/physiological mystery.
And there are a ton of scientific creations by the hands of genius men, especially, that I just don’t understand at all. For instance, cell phone towers and satellite signals and stuff like that. How can they make it possible for me to see an electronic portrayal of my friend’s face on my iPhone screen and hear all the nuances of his or her voice in my head (using my earbuds) when they’re 1000 miles away?
It’s beyond me. I’m just not smart enough, or informed enough, to know.
But, thank goodness, there’s one supremely important thing in life I do know that makes all the scientific or psychological knowledge in the world pale by comparison in its value to me.
It’s simply this: The Bible tells me — in the full revelation of all its varied writings – of a God who not only created the whole cosmos by the unfathomable power of His spoken Word but who also came to Earth, personally, in the flesh. He was here for about 33 years as a man named Jesus of Nazareth and suffered for us, crucified on a Roman cross. He did this as the Lamb of God, prophesied in the Old Testament by chosen prophets hundreds of years before it happened, so that you and I could be forgiven and cleansed and accepted and loved…and know God face to face, forever, having been given as a gift a glorious place in His coming eternal kingdom.
You see, according to Scripture, God’s already done all the bloody sacrificing needed. And He’s already raised Jesus from the dead and sent the message out around the world, calling all men to Himself. All He asks is that we acknowledge our sinfulness and believe His great message of love and turn to him with all our hearts, inviting His Spirit to live within us from now on and transform us, slowly, into the mature sons and daughters of God.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will never truly perish but have everlasting (eternal) life.” John 3:16 Lots of folks share a special love of this one verse. You even see it on TV written in big letters on placards in the end zone, being held by someone who obviously loves both God and football!
The two brief paragraphs above are my own summary of the message of all sixty-six books of the Holy Scriptures. I’m sure of their bold claim because my 9 years of formal studies were in Christian theology. And after those days of college and seminary, I’ve studied the Bible through several times on my own. Carefully. With an open heart.
So now…
Not only my whole eternity but my daily life depends on the Bible’s supremely important truth. And if you notice, there’s passion in the revelation. God’s passion, for us, that is. He didn’t just passively let us know he loves us. He did what He did with personal passion! Mel Gibson even made a movie about it called The Passion of The Christ.
Some years ago, thanks to author-speaker John Eldredge and his magnificent book trilogy, Wild At Heart, I better comprehended God’s passion for us. I had decided to become a follower of Christ when I was young, but I am still growing over 50 years later in the wonder of what John’s trilogy discusses so well. I highly recommend all believing or seeking men and women read it. I think I can honestly say that if I had known well what John Eldredge presents so well, I would never have suffered a mid-life psychological crisis so damaging as it was, to me and others.
This leads me to my second firm conviction: that God gives to every one of us for our own earthly journeys what I like to call a leading passion, which is so important to our well-being that if we don’t find and express this particular passion within, we simply can’t be right with ourselves or the world.
In fact, without it, we may give in to despair. Without it, we can feel we have no real meaning or purpose. We’re adrift. We don’t know for sure why we’re even here. The world-weary expressions on the faces of Hollywood characters in movies show clearly enough what it’s like to just be trudging through life without an animating passion. Those reality-based characters take drags on their cigarettes, exchange deadpan dialogue, and express all sorts of cynicism and/or despair. It’s the way of the world.
But as I’ve said, God the Father demonstrated His all-consuming passion for us in His Son Jesus’ well-documented birth, life, death, and resurrection from the dead, which are recorded in the four biographies called the Gospels and were written by ordinary men named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Their eyewitness accounts tell the story of how God literally poured out His heart to us through His Son. Even secular historians like Josephus, and many others, have had to acknowledge the extraordinary mission and passion of Jesus that has changed the world.
As for those of us who are willing to take a good look at God’s passion and see it for what it is, we are forever changed by it. It starts us on the road toward a passionate life well lived. We suddenly are breathing and moving about with an awareness that transforms…well, everything.
But we need to know, also, the leading passion God has given us individually. And we need to humbly seek out how to express that passion in a way that helps, but never harms, others. Caveat: Good character is essential here. Spiritual maturity makes the expression of our passion something very palatable to those around us. In the end, we are called to serve, not overwhelm or manipulate or harm.
What is your leading passion?
Grand Vitality 