What does it mean to care for your soul?
How can we rediscover the deep connection between our soul and God?

Listen as pastor and author John Ortberg joins Susie. He helps us unpack the importance of digging into real faith and building a deep relationship with God.

John speaks about the ability of a person to live, make real choices, and mature. This integration is the ‘soul.’ While some cultures apply this to every living creature, John defines the soul for a person as “that which wants to integrate my thoughts, my body, and my appetite with the will of God.”

Sin affects our soul in several ways. It fractures our will and causes our thoughts to turn to things that are not pure and not in deep connection to God. John names several ways we can reconnect our souls to God:

Be with someone who is “deeply rooted in the reality of the grace and goodness of God.” John points to his own relationship with scholar Dallas Willard, who lived with humble insight and razor-sharp focus on the kingdom of God. When we spend time in the presence of someone at rest, it reminds our own soul what we were created for.

Enjoy spending time with God; don’t feel rushed to check it off your to-do list. John says, “Don’t turn the ‘ought’ of opportunity into the ‘ought’ of obligation.” We ought to spend time with God because it’s refreshing and brings us joy.

Explore the Christian disciplines – reading Scripture, practicing solitude, fasting, or fellowship.

John shares his own experience with healing his soul – he sets concrete guidelines on his schedule, gives himself time to step away and surrounds himself with people who hold him accountable to seasons of rest. The most important thing is to seek God first, and “be” in response to Him and how He created us to live. Our souls were made to “need God,” and when we recognize that, we start to live with a healthy soul.

Key Scriptures: Mark 8:36; Psalm 84:10

Theme Song: You Revive Me by Christy Nockels

Highlight : Soul keeping

Soul keeping

Image: Flickr