Spiritual Disciplines (1)

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls…2 Corinthians 12.15

The end of the soul
These days talking about the soul is considered either ignorant, naïve, or just not in good taste. Secular and naturalistic thinkers since before the turn of the 19^th century have tried to distance humankind from the idea of the soul, insisting that, since everything that matters is material in composition, talking about the soul as some kind of an explanation for human behavior is an exercise in futility.

In our day certain neuroscientists are on a quest to demonstrate that every action of our bodies, every thought or feeling or decision or impulse we experience, can be traced to electro-chemical movements within our brains. What we call “consciousness” or “affection” or “thinking” or “the soul” is really just the materiel of our brains, doing what they’re supposed to do in looking out for the wellbeing of themselves and the rest of our bodies.

On some college campuses, talking about the “soul” or “self” or the “person” is considered out of bounds and a mark of inferior intelligence. You can go to college for four years, study for all you’re worth, and come away without ever having considered the soul as a something other than an aspect of human life people used to believe way back in the dark ages.

So, is this the end of the soul? Is talking about spiritual disciplines really just a waste of time?

Soul and body
Not for those who embrace a Christian worldview, and who understand that the secular deception about the full and final composition of things is just a convenient way of seeking to get around the moral obligations of believing in God.

For the Christian, few things could be more important than to understand and exercise proper stewardship over our souls. So important were the souls of believers to the Apostle Paul that he spent himself in long days and short nights, and in many trials and troubles, seeking the wellbeing and edification of the souls of those entrusted to his care. And he did so, and resolved to continue doing so, gladly, for he understood just how important a healthy soul is for fruitful living in the Kingdom of God.

From the Christian perspective, human beings are creatures of two components, one material and one spiritual. We are body and soul, each person being endowed with a unique expression of the various respective components of each. What God is to the world – architect, sustainer, redeemer, molder, keeper, guide, and power – the soul is to the human body. A healthy soul means a body that will know God’s presence and carry out His purposes in a life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The soul animates the body and gives it its peculiar character, expressed in words and deeds. When our souls – our minds, hearts, and consciences – are aligned with God’s purposes, shaped by His counsel and plan, and filled with His presence, then our bodies will refract the presence of God into the world and demonstrate the Christian’s claim that Jesus Christ has, indeed, risen from the dead.

Nurturing the soul
Who we are, what we’re like and how we talk and act, comes to expression in all our waking moments, no matter where we are, what we’re doing, or whom we’re with. It is the declared purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ to fill us with Himself and to spill out through us to flood the spaces of our lives with the life-giving spiritual water of grace and truth (Eph. 4.10; Jn. 7.37-39). Our bodies will only be capable of the words and deeds this high and holy calling requires if our souls are in proper spiritual condition, strong, growing, and at the ready in every situation.

This is the work of spiritual disciplines. Through spiritual disciplines we reserve a portion of our time to the direct and concentrated effort of training our thoughts, feelings, and priorities to get in step with the Lord Jesus Christ. We learn to think with the mind of Christ, to feel with the heart of God, and to choose, in the power of the Spirit, whatever course of action – whether words or deeds – will express the pleasure and redound to the glory of God. In order for this to be consistently the case, we have to work hard at those exercises and protocols which actually have the power to shape our souls so that they become more like the mind, heart, and conscience of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Which makes spiritual disciplines the place to begin in thinking about how to make the best use of the time of our lives in training, shaping, and qualifying our bodies for life in the Kingdom of God. The world may deny the existence of the soul, but the Christian cannot. As the inward vital life-springs of our unbelieving neighbors run dry, we Christians, our souls fresh-filled with the grace and truth of Christ, must be always ready to offer true spiritual water to quench their thirst.

And making sure we’re ready for such opportunities, becoming the kind of person who is able to respond like this, is the work of spiritual disciplines.

Next steps: Summarize the state of your spiritual disciplines at this time. What are you presently doing to “get your soul in shape” for ministering God’s grace and truth to others? How confident are you that this is everything you should be doing for the proper nurture of your soul? Talk with some Christian friends about these questions.

T. M. Moore

This week’s study, Spiritual Disciplines, is part 3 of a 7-part series on The Disciplined Life, and is available as a free download by clicking here. We have prepared a special worksheet to help you begin getting your disciplines in proper shape for seeking the Kingdom. Write to T. M. at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for you free PDF of the “Disciplined Life Worksheet.”

A rightly-disciplined life requires a Kingdom vision, and that vision is centered on Jesus Christ exalted. T. M. has prepared a series of meditations on the glorious vision of Christ, based on Scripture and insights from the Celtic Christian tradition. Order your copy of Be Thou My Vision by clicking here.

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