A MAP OF THE SOUL (PT 2)
BEFORE YOU WATCH:
When was the last time you heard a sermon on the importance of your body to following Jesus? Why do you think that is?
What role do you think our relationships have in how our souls are shaped?
AFTER YOU’VE WATCHED:
If we took seriously the truth that our bodies are spiritual, how might that change the way we think about following Jesus?
What relationships have had the most powerful effect on your soul? (positive and negative)
DOCUMENTS FOR DOWNLOAD:
As we continue looking at Dallas Willards model of the soul, we’ve covered the heart and mind. Let’s talk about the…
3. BODY
The unseen parts of our soul that we typically call our hearts and minds, all are connected to and housed in our bodies. Our bodies are good and are part of the way God has designed us to experience him.
There is an inseparable back and forth interaction between the needs of our bodies and how they affect our thoughts, and desires. What is unseen is impacted by what is seen.
IMPORTANT: Embodied actions are part of transforming our soul! Our simply put, the things we do with and in our bodies have an effect of our entire soul. That’s why we see people fasting, kneeling, building altars, preparing sacrifices. We’ll explore how important this principal is when we begin to talk about how to be transformed.
We find our ability to think and act greatly impacted by the amount and quality of sleep and our diet. We are affected by physical pain which impacts our thoughts and beliefs.
Additionally, our bodies give us clues about things that we may be overlooking in other parts of our soul. Tension or jitteriness are often indicators of fear, worry, anger, or anxiety that is going unaddressed in our heart and mind.
Again, we turn to the Apostle Paul, who is reminding the church at Corinth of the importance that God places on their bodies. He says…
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. [1 Cor. 6:19-20] God, through his Holy Spirit lives within our bodies. Our bodies are a necessary part of how our souls experience and know God.
One last note: Jesus took on a physical body. Jesus lived an amazing life in a physical body. Jesus used his body to praise God. Jesus’s spiritual life included his body. He fasted, kneeled, slept, served, and told us to do the same. Lastly, our soul includes our
4. SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
We don’t tend to think of our relationships as being part of our soul, but it is in the context of relationships that we have become who we are. We carry with us the effects of the relationships we have been part of.
Our loves, fears, worries, hopes and dreams have been largely shaped by our major relationships and interactions with others. Our way of relating to others is a combination of past and present relationships.
Additionally, who we will become is dependent on our current relationships. Our God is a relational being within himself as the Trinity. And we are made in his image, and he has created us to only be able to become who we were meant to be in community with others.
Our ability to be transformed is tied to our ability to be in community with others.
Jesus himself illustrated the need to be in community. It is in the context of community that he shares the pain in his soul as he asks them to accompany him to Gethsemane before his crucifixion.
To experience transformation and growth of our souls, we must examine why they currently are the way they are due to our past relationships and commit to being in community with others in the present and future.
