Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Peace”
Our Bible verse for today: “And the Lord God formed the man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
Our thought for today: “To be at peace our soul must be contented.”
Although I love to read books, and I learn a lot from them, sometimes even a good title speaks volumes to me. That was the case with Lisa McMinn’s book “The Contented Soul”. I love the idea of a “contented” soul. It evokes images of peace, tranquility, serenity, calmness. But what exactly is the soul and what does it take in order for it to be contented?
Dallas Willard was one of the great Christian minds of our day. He recently went to heaven but for more than 50 years he was a professor of Religious Philosophy at USC. Through his numerous books, articles, lectures, and devotionals he contributed tremendous insight into the person of God and about the spiritual realm. With respect to the nature of the soul Dallas writes,
“The soul is that dimension of a person that inter-relates all other dimensions so that they form one life. The soul organizes our whole person: our mind and will, thoughts and feelings, body and social context, and through these reaches deeper into the person’s vast environment of God and his creation.”
The soul is the spiritual entity that ties all of our pieces and parts together and unites us into one being. The soul takes your physical body, your spirit, your mind, your will, and emotions, and brings them all together into a unified whole that ends up being “you”. In order for the soul to be contented there needs to be balance between the pieces and parts. Since all of it works together to make-up the thing that is “you”, if one or more of the parts are out of whack your life will be out of balance and you will not have real peace.
For instance, some of us work so much that it has a negative impact on us spiritually and physically. Some of us work so little that we become lazy and sedentary. That too is not good. Some of us have poor eating habits which have resulted in our physical bodies becoming out of shape and unhealthy. That then is a part of us that is not as it should be and it will therefore have a negative impact on the other parts as the soul works to draw them all together into that unified whole.
To really be at peace our soul must be contented. In order for the soul to be contented there must be a healthy balance between the pieces and parts that make up who we are. I encourage you to consider whether some area of your life may be out of balance and in need of adjustments. Better balance will lead to a greater sense of peace.
God Bless, Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 