You have something animals don’t…
Last time we looked at how the soul is your blueprint of who you are on the inside.
But…
You don’t have to read far in the Bible to discover that animals are called living souls, too.
In what sense is an animal a soul? Do they live forever? No.
However, animals also have a “blueprint” for their identity.
The amazing difference is that animals do not try to be something they are not. Chickens do not try to be lions. Donkeys do not try to fly. And sharks do not try to operate computers (unless they work at a loan office).
Why do animal souls not leave their created order yet humans do?
Because we have minds.
Other living creatures have brains, but not minds. We who have minds tend to be easily distracted.
Most of us live in our heads rather than in our God-given order.
To live in harmony with your soul, to come back to your God-planned center, you must win the battle of the mind.
Living in doubt will leave us tossed about like a wave in the wind. See James 1:5-8.
To stop drifting on the winds of false teaching and tidal-wave shams that could bring us down, we grow in faith, maturity, and in our identity in King Jesus. See Ephesians 4:14.
More than just get rid of our stinking thinking, we have to join ourselves to others connected to the Master of the blueprint—God. His mind is not just a matter of happy thoughts but of thinking with others in view, others who are also filled with the power of His Spirit.
Left on their own, our minds drive us to shipwreck. We must be renewed in the spirit of our minds, putting on the new self of right-standing and sinless living in God. See Ephesians 4:23-24.
You become transformed into the pure soul you were made to be as your mind becomes renewed. See Romans 12:2. Just as a boat cannot ignore the wind, we cannot just shut off our minds, but we can change them!
First, a person becomes new by the Spirit and rebirth in water. See Titus 3:5.
Then, we put on the mind of Christ. See I Corinthians 2:16.
Daily in prayer and practice, we put on the new self—an ongoing process as our expanding understanding grows us into the image of our Creator. That new self is no longer under the labels of the old life. See Colossians 3:9-11.
If we think about the things of this earth, this flesh, we nosedive toward death. Fixing our minds on what is of the Spirit brings us life and peace. See Romans 8:6.
Please share your thoughts on how you are winning the battle of the mind!