I believe Scripture is very clear that the SOUL speaks to the essence of who we are eternally. Our soul is what the enemy wants to destroy and what Jesus came to redeem. The soul is who God created in eternity past to serve Him now and for all eternity future. The soul is our BEing. It is what we BE.

In Mark 8:34-37, Jesus summoned the multitude with His disciples and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his SOUL? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

The word translated LIFE and SOUL is the same word: psyche. It is where we get the word psychology. Our life, our soul, our very who-ness is described in this word.

So how do we make our soul an idol?

Based upon this passage in Mark, I believe we idolize our souls when we idolize ourselves.

Here is the question I believe God is asking us: “What do you think is so special about your life apart from Me? Your life was lost until I found you. Only then did I make you alive in Christ and give you a purpose” (Ephesians 2:1-10). “So why do you strive in every area of your being as if you do not have an Advocate, even My Son?”

The idol of the soul is, I believe, the most all-encompassing idol. It permeates everything we do and everything we are because we fear losing it. Jesus assured us that we never will so that we could finally rest in His grace and lose our lives in Christ (1 John 5:11-12).

Worshipping the idol of the soul is the ever-present death grip on all that is important to us.

Let go.

And by doing so, find that Jesus is holding all things together according to the counsel of His will.

Colossians 1:16-17 says, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Most people do not know that the Greek word for ALL actually translates to… ALL!

There is nothing in my life or yours that is outside of God’s sovereign control.

So this idol of the soul is really the idol of unbelief; a lack of faith, a lack of trust in the God of the universe who sent His Son to hold on to US through ALL of life.

Are you ready to let go completely and fall into His nail-pierced hands?

Go to Him in prayer and ask God to reveal where you have blisters and callouses of the soul. Ask the Holy Spirit to gently help you release your grip on this life He paid the price for.

Tomorrow we will look at idols of the mind!