Kingdom Perspective (5)

“The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17.20, 21

The body within
The season is upon us, and flu shots are in the air. Seems like just about everybody’s ready to stick us and guard us against the danger of flu: “Fill ‘er up? Check ‘at awl fer ye? Need a flu shot?”

I confess, I’ve never had a flu shot. But I suppose the idea is sound. Once flu gets inside your body, it can create a mess. And that mess isn’t confined to inside the body, either, as we know.

The insides of our bodies are designed to function just so. We feed them and care for them, for the most part, so as to keep all those unseen working parts operating at maximum efficiency. And when some invader like flu tries to take up residence within us, we and our bodies will do everything we can think of to expel it and get our insides back to sound health.

We need to be even more circumspect and vigilant concerning our souls.

The nature of the soul
Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within us. That cosmic-sustaining power of the Kingdom, focused in Christ and His Word, that redeems and refreshes all things, operates from within the lives of those who have made the Kingdom turn. And not within their physical lives, but from within their spiritual lives – within their souls.

The soul is the unseen, spiritual entity, unique to every human being, that determines the moral and spiritual character of our lives. It consists of three overlapping, inter-communicating components – the heart, the mind, and the conscience.

The heart governs our affections – the things we love and hate, and the intensity and propriety with which we love and hate them. The Kingdom power of Christ operates with the hearts of His people to shape them for loving God and neighbors. The Spirit of God, Who dwells in the soul, accomplishes this work by teaching and applying the Law and Word of God to the soul, beginning with the heart, which is the heart of the matter where spiritual life is concerned (Ezek. 36.26, 27; Prov. 4.23).

The mind is that part of the soul where the Spirit works with the Law and Word of God to nurture us in the mind of Jesus Christ, so that we think like Him, plan according to His plans, remember as He remembers, and know as He knows.

And the conscience serves as a kind of arbitrator in the soul between the impulses of the heart and the notions of the mind. The conscience reads the Law of God from the heart to the mind, and from the mind to the heart, and then leads the two to submit and cooperate for actions consistent with love for God and neighbors (Rom. 2.14, 15; 1 Tim. 1.5).

Health souls
But the soul of each believer must be tended to and cared for diligently. A law of sin continues to operate within us which wants to rob us of the full presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom of God (Rom. 7.21-23). We need to understand how sin tries to insinuate its presence into our hearts, blur and confuse our thinking, and overthrow the Kingdom values and priorities of our consciences. And we need to know how to resist the law of sin by working hard to nurture our souls into the image of Jesus Christ – so that, increasingly, our affections and desires are His, our thoughts and ideas are His, and our priorities are those of His Kingdom.

You can tell when the flu of sin is messing with your inner person. You begin thinking the world revolves around you; you can do what you want; others need to look out for themselves; everyone’s against you; you know better than anyone else; just this once won’t be so bad…and so forth. There is no vaccine for dealing with the virus of sin. Continual vigilance and the hard work of nurturing our souls on the Word and Spirit of God: This is the remedy for “sinfluenza” and the key to unlocking the power of Christ and His Kingdom within us.

Next steps: Do you have a soul friend, to watch over your soul with you? Would you benefit from having one? The elders and shepherds of your church are charged with watching over your soul (Heb. 13.15). How do they do this work? Ask some of them.

T. M. Moore
Additional Resources

This week’s study, Kingdom Perspective, is the second of an eight-part series on The Kingdom Turn, and is available as a free download. T. M. has written two books to complement this eight-part series. You can order The Kingship of Jesus by clicking here, and The Gospel of the Kingdom by clicking here.

Sign up for ViewPoint Leaders Training, free and online, and start your own ViewPoint discussion group.

Want to learn more about the Celtic Revival? Visit our website and sign-up for our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.