“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.”- 1 Peter 2:11 (NIV) “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”- James 1:8 (KJV) John Ortberg continues Chapter 4 of Soul Keeping with this description of a well-ordered soul: “God designed us so […]
“We are not lost because we are going to wind up in the wrong place. We are going to wind up in the wrong place because we are lost.”- John Ortberg “Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.”- Psalm 51:6 In Chapter 4 (“Lost Souls”) of […]
“Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.”- Mark 4:7 John Ortberg concludes Chapter 3 of Soul Keeping with his discussion of the cluttered soul. 3. The Cluttered Soul. The soul becomes cluttered when worries, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for things other […]
“Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.”- Mark 4:5-6 “Superficiality is the curse of our age.”- Richard Foster, Celebration of […]
“Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path and the birds came and devoured it.”- Mark 4:3-4 Today John Ortberg (Soul Keeping) begins his discussion of three types of souls. 1. The Hardened Soul. Not only is that path the place where farmers walk, but it […]
“What matters most is not the accomplishments you achieve; what matters is the person you become.”- Dallas Willard John Ortberg begins Chapter 3 (“A Soul-Challenged World”) of Soul Keeping by stating that the cries of the soul are very real and what matters deeply about us. The fly in the ointment is that the material […]
“Though you have not seen him [Jesus] you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy; for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”- 1 Peter 1:8-9 John Ortberg concludes Chapter 2 […]
“The blizzard of the world has crossed the threshold, and it has overturned the order of the soul.”- Leonard Cohen “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul.”- Mark 8:36 (ESV) In Chapter 2 of Soul Keeping, John Ortberg follows his discussion of a healthy soul with a […]
“The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.”- Romans 8:6 John Ortberg continues Chapter 2 of Soul Keeping by discussing Dallas Willard’s understanding of the “parts” of the inner life, all integrated by the soul. Dallas uses a series of concentric circles to illustrate his […]
“You’re a soul made by God, made for God, and made to need God, which means you were not made to be self-sufficient.”- Dallas Willard In Chapter 2 (“What is the Soul?”) of Soul Keeping, John Ortberg states that because our inner life is invisible, it is easy to neglect. Unlike our outer self, no […]
“I don’t deserve a soul, yet I still have one. I know because it hurts.”- Douglas Coupland, The Gum Thief John Ortberg concludes Chapter 1 of Soul Keeping by observing that we speak of the soul as a source of strength, yet we also speak of the soul as fragile. There is something about the […]
Part I of Soul Keeping focuses on what the soul is. In Chapter 1 (“The Soul Nobody Knows”), author John Ortberg asserts that soul is one of the most important words in the Bible. Yet, if the average man or woman on the street is asked to explain exactly what the word soul means, Pastor […]