Body, Soul, Spirit

Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name. (Psalm 103:1 NIV)

Last night at Lenten worship we learned about loving God with all of our soul. The Hebrew word for "soul" is "nephesh" and yes, of course... it is Hebrew... so it means much more than just "soul." It is translated into many different english words and one of them is "breath."

It makes me think about the creation story in Genesis where God forms man from dust and then "breathes" life into him. God didn't just make his lungs start pumping as in a cosmic form of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This "breath" brought life to him in more ways than that.

We are more than pumping blood and functioning organs. The soul is that...plus. Plus our genetic make-up. Plus our intellegence. Plus our experiences. Plus our personalities that are made up from a combination of those other things. All of of that and more is what our soul is. Our bodies make us a living being. Our souls make us who we are as that being.

A long time ago a read a book by Watchman Nee. It waas a very spiritually deep book and I never did even finish the first one in the 3-part series. But it was very interesting and I remember reading about the difference between "soul" and "spirit." He said, in essence, that the soul was directed by the spirit and the spirit is what we use to commune with God.

Nee explains that we are made up of body, soul and spirit. The body wants worldly things; the spirit wants the things of God. The soul is where body and spirit meet and hash out their differences.

If you want to delve deeply into this explaination, I recommend the book, "The Spiritual Man" by Watchman Nee. Maybe I'll pick it up again, now that I have reminded myself about it!

Father,
Guide us to allow our souls to be spirit-led rather than body-led. Amen.

Joys: An incredible day in the mountains yesterday; Record-breaking warm temperatures in mid-March; cool iPhone apps