A MAP OF THE SOUL (PT 1)
BEFORE YOU WATCH:
If you were to make a list of the top 10 things you “love”, what would it include?
Would you describe yourself as more of a “thinker” or a “feeler”? Why?
AFTER YOU’VE WATCHED:
Do you agree or disagree with the phrase “your loves determine your actions”? Why or why not?
The modern church tends to emphasize growth with accumulation of information. How might that fail to bring about long-term transformation?
DOCUMENTS FOR DOWNLOAD:
Now that we’ve looked at what the bible says and concluded that we are holistic physical and spiritual beings called souls, let’s see if we can simplify things some.
I’m a visual person so I really appreciate taking abstract concepts and turning them into something that helps me make sense of them visually. I’m going to start with Dallas Willards model of the soul. He is trying to help us see how the physical and the spiritual interconnect.
4 MAIN DISTINCT & INTEGRATED PARTS OF THE SOUL
1. HEART, WILL, SPIRIT
2. MIND
3. BODY
4. SOCIAL (RELATIONSHIPS)
1. HEART / SPIRIT
At the very center of our souls lies the engine if you will of how we live. The Bible uses several words to describe the central part of us that moves us to action. It is the place of our core loves, desires, and motivations. The words it most commonly uses are Heart or Spirit.
We would like to believe that we are primarily motivated by our thoughts, logic, and will-power, but we are not. We are primarily driven by our desires. We are driven by what we love. And what we love primarily determines our actions and how we live. Will power and information are incapable of changing our actions alone.
Our desires are often not only expressed in action, but in emotion. That is why we must not diminish, or ignore our emotions. Emotions are simply God given messengers giving us information on what is happening in our soul.
This is all reinforced by scripture, psychology, and neuroscience.
It’s interesting when God begins to outline for his people how they are to live as his representatives he starts with “love the Lord Your God.” [Deut. 6:5] He doesn’t start with have right theology, or do the right things, but desire God. Want him more than anything or anyone else.
If you’d like a resource that explains this concept better and explores psychology and neuroscience, I recommend Curt Thompsons “Anatomy of the Soul” and James K.A. Smith’s book “You are What You Love”. The next part of our soul is the…
2. MIND
While our hearts tend to drive our actions, our minds are a crucial part of our soul. We can harness our minds to partner with God in becoming who He intends us to be. We do this by intentionally turning our attention and focus to things that can transform the loves and desires of our hearts. Where you focus you attention over time will have an effect of reshaping the loves of our heart.
The Apostle Paul tells us
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” [Romans 12:1-2]
Where our attention is focused, our hearts and actions tend to follow.
