SOUL

WITHOUT the execution of the righteousness that has been planted or credited to the soul, the soul starves. The soul starves because it needs nutrition that it is not receiving. So many people, in spite of the fact they go to church, in spite of the fact they are religious, are starving spiritually because they’re not hungering and thirsting after the right thing that the soul is requiring. The soul, in order to flourish, requires righteousness or at least a person seeking to align himself in accordance with the will of God.

If you fill up your car with diesel fuel, you’ll be in for a rough ride. The motor of a car is not designed to receive it. Now, you may be full of diesel, but you’re not going to get very far. While the gas indicator may show you that you are full, your car will be full of that which the motor cannot receive. You need unleaded fuel because that is what the car has been built to receive.

Many of us are putting stuff in our souls that the soul is not designed to receive, and we wonder why, if we’re so full, we are not making strides forward. It is because we are giving our souls that which the manufacture does not require.

God requires righteousness. Seeking to align oneself with the will of God and living according to the new nature only produces righteousness. Anything else will cause problems under the hood of your life.872

[Christian Living; Spiritual Food; Spiritual Maturity, Lack of]

Isa. 59:2

A LADY one day was driving down the street. She noticed in her rearview mirror that a huge truck seemed to be following her a little too close. She sped up to kind of create some more distance, only to discover that the truck sped up too. The faster she went, the faster he went. She made a right turn; he made a right turn. She made a left turn; he made a left turn. She got on the expressway; he got on the expressway. She took an exit; so did he.

Terror began to sweep over her as it became clear she was being followed. It was at night and she needed to do something, so she pulled into an all-night gas station where there was light and where there were people. She rushed out of the car and ran inside; the man in the truck pulled right behind her into the gas station, rushed out of the truck, but then instead of rushing into the store where she was, he rushed to her car and pulled open the back door, reached inside, and jerked out a man who had hidden himself in the backseat.

What the lady didn’t know was that the one she was running from was her savior. This would-be rapist was going to hurt her but because the man driving the truck was sitting high and looking low, he was able to see this unsuspecting character sneak into her car. The lady, however, had a distorted view. She thought she knew what was going on when in reality, she was totally unaware of what was really happening.

Many of us are living life with a distorted view; we are running in fear from the wrong thing. We spend a lot of time and energy trying to fix our souls and our personalities. We spend time making New Year’s resolutions, going to self-help seminars, and promising ourselves we will do better. Our souls are not the enemy; they are not what we should try and fix.873

[Life, Fixing]