We are making our way down the proverbial yellow brick road in our Easter season worship series looking at Jesus’ teaching on the greatest commandment: to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Using the Jewish Shema prayer, Jesus’ response was to listen to God; love God; and leave a legacy of love for God by loving others. This past Sunday we explored the soul as the second part of Jesus’ teaching.
The meaning of the soul in the biblical languages is the living breathing creature within our mortal and temporal bodies that connects us to the eternal. The first mention of the soul we see in Scripture comes when God created Adam, saying the Lord breathed into the nostrils of the pile of dust that was the first man and gave him life, or his soul, as it’s stated in the King James Version. The soul comes to us from God and has a very specific purpose: to integrate our mind, body, and will. We still find ourselves in the ongoing struggle within the heart between following God’s purposes or our own sinful and selfish desires. If we love according to God’s purposes, we experience the integration of mind, body, and will. If not, however, it is like throwing water on the Wicked Witch of the West and we experience dis-integration.
Renowned theologian, Dallas Willard, describes integration like the components of a car all working together to get the driver from point A to B. The car is more than just an engine, transmission, suspension, etc., and all parts must work together for the vehicle to function properly. The soul serves as the steering wheel, because it takes into account the freedom of will to turn as needed. Dis-integration in a metaphor such as this would be something similar to wheels that are out of alignment. Keeping a vehicle moving in a straight line when the wheels are out of alignment requires constant over-correction, causes uneven wear and premature degradation of the tires. When we experience dis-integration – and in life this comes when a job is lost, a relationship breaks down, poor health, financial misery, etc. — we feel as though the world is coming unglued for us. This is precisely why Jesus said what He did in Matthew 11.28-30: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your [soul]. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (MSG)
Ecclesiastes 3:11 states that God placed a bit of eternity in the human heart. This is what helps our soul connect our temporal existence to eternity in heaven. As a result, there is a sort of natural rhythm of dis-integration we experience when trying to fill the voids in life with anything other than God’s purposes. When we aim to fill those voids with money, power, sex, drugs/alcohol, toys, or pastimes, they might bring a moment or two of pleasure, but will never fulfill the longing that God placed within us. This is the essence of of Saint Augustine’s poignant quote, “You created us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”
Dorothy Gale felt this pull when she failed to find meaning in her life with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry in Kansas. She longed for a place somewhere over the rainbow, thinking that’s where everything would make sense. Similar to how we might experience a metaphorical storm that rocks our world, the twister carried Dorothy to Oz. It didn’t take long, however, for her to realize that life was imperfect there, too, so she began to long for the place where she belonged so she could enjoy the life she had and the people with whom she shared it. The manifestations of her heart, mind, and strength in Oz — the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Lion — enabled Dorothy’s soul to once again find integration and joy right where she belonged.
Are you experiencing dis-integration in life? Do you find your soul longing for a place on the other side of God’s promise to be with us forever? You can find it right here and right now in the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus. Listening, loving, and living for Christ is the ultimate way to find rest for the soul. So take the necessary time to allow your soul to get re-integrated and learn from the One who placed the yearning in your heart to begin with.
Have a great rest of the week, and I hope to see you Sunday as we explore Your Scarecrow Mind.
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