A Soul with a View is about the way people see the world. In the Bible, soul is the inner being of a person that is also called spirit, mind, and heart (Deut 6:5; Matt 22:37).
A person spends years defining and refining a view of the world. At best, it is a grid of assumptions and beliefs that people depend on to survive and thrive. At worst, the view utterly fails to reflect the way the universe works. Either way, people think it holds them together. When seriously challenged, the whole of them threatens to unravel. They are forced to ask, “How wrong was I?”
I once believed that people were good at their core. Woundedness obscured that goodness, but once healed, people could love and fulfill hopes and dreams. I also believed that people possessed a spirit that enabled them to merge with the spiritual realm. People entered that realm by relinquishing their will and suppressing thoughts. In a quiet, twilight state of mind, the human spirit could access spiritual wisdom, empowerment, visons, and revelations that embellished daily life. I clung to this view even as my life fell apart.
I’m not alone in clinging to a failed worldview. Who volitionally destroys the warp and woof of a life? Who willingly discards that which holds them together? No one. The idea petrifies us. Something better must first take its place.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
Jesus showed me a better way. I saw that the old view contained threads of truth woven through a tapestry of lies which made the whole a lie. The truth was that I was a sinner.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved (Ephes 1:4-5).
I learned that Jesus heals us as we worship him, digest Scripture, proclaim the gospel, forgive those who wrong us, and love and serve others. We see past injuries in a rear-view mirror through the eyes of the Savior. The past no longer defines us—Jesus does! The Word trumps lies such as I’m unlovable, I must do more, or no one could forgive that!
God loves us. He lives in us.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. . . . you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17).
God has joined our soul. He initiates and orchestrates change in everyday situations. We hear him just fine as we quietly contemplate and submit to the truth of Scripture. As we love and obey him, as we pray in his Name; he heals the whole of us to reflect the Savior. It’s all a work of God.
A Christian soul with a view is one who sees the world through God’s eyes. It is the only way to discern what is and is not of him. It is the only way that pleases him.