Note: This is the third article in a series entitled “The Five Investments.” Previous articles are always available at http://www.webbweekly.com.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31.
“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (soul).” Genesis 2:7
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28
In these verses, the word soul is translated from the Hebrew word nephesh and the Greek word psuche, and both point to the divine impartation of God’s essence into the human – making us a being.
It is the soul that most reveals our made-in-the-image-of-God design and sets us apart from the natural world. Even though our bodies are made of earth’s minerals, and we will return to the ground when our bodies die (Genesis 3:19), we know that the soul existing within us is not of the natural world. We have been animated by God’s essence, which makes us incredibly unique—truly an amazing investment!
Jesus breathed on the disciples after the resurrection and imparted to them the Holy Spirit. See John 20:22. On the day of Pentecost, “a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” Acts 2:2. The Greek word pneuma is often translated as breath, wind, or spirit—God breathing Himself, His essence, into us.
While there is great speculation in religion and philosophy regarding the soul, for the purposes of this article, we will view it as God investing into us His free, unlimited, eternal, and always new essence.
Freedom is of the highest value to God. Our freedom is why Jesus came. See Galatians 5:1. Consider the poem on the Statue of Liberty and the statement, “Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” It is the soul in the human that yearns to be free.
Eternity gives us the sense of being without end. It is the human soul that is aware of and longs for eternity and resists the concept of death and the grave. The soul knows that death should not be a part of the human story.
Of all the investments, the soul, free and eternal, is the most mysterious and uncharted—existing beyond the realm of our limited understanding. How can we obey the command to love God with all of our soul when we’re not even sure what it is?
Thankfully, God did not leave the answer simply to our imagination. His Word gives us clear directions on how we can love Him with all of our soul. I don’t have room in this article to comment on each point, so I will leave God’s Word to speak for itself.
To love God with all of your soul:
1. Rest your soul in its home.
Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress; I will never be shaken. See Psalm 62.
Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. John 4:14
2. Restore your soul with rest.
By the seventh day, God had finished the work he had been doing. So on that day, he rested from all his work. Genesis 2:2
But the news about Jesus spread even more. So crowds of people came to hear him. They also came to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often went away to be by himself and pray. Luke 5:15-16
3. Reconcile your soul in personal unity.
With the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse human beings who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James 2:9-12
4. Release your soul into courageous faith.
Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it (the demon) out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:19-21
Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14:12-14
