Combat Zone: Your Soul

Italians might wish a newborn “benvenuti alla luce”—welcome to the light—but whenever I see a baby, one of my first thoughts is “Welcome to the battlefield.” The dynamics have begun. Within that little body lies a great commission . . . its soul’s journey, purpose, identity. It won’t be easy because the soul-body matrix will engage in a no-holds-barred tug of war vs. resting in a holy balance. Take a look . . .

Ancient Israelites as well as those in the Second Temple period—including the first century with Jesus (Yeshua, his Hebrew name)—have long embraced a soul-body perspective. Same with rabbinic teaching today. This series focuses on God’s Word, exploring that soul-body interplay in daily life. The first stop along our Judaic-Messianic bridge: three revealing Hebrew words used interchangeably for soul.

Symbiotic. That’s what some rabbis say about the soul-body matrix. You are a God-breathed soul with three nuances—breath, spirit/wind that rises/descends, and “rested” life force—clothed in a body that’s from the earth and tethered to this world. A battle is going on. You need to know the rules of engagement. Here are seven to live by . . .

Life has its ragged edges. The God-breathed soul in its earth-tethered body has a job to do. But things can get messed up, turned upside down, or totally d-e-r-a-i-l-e-d. Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini may not have been thinking about the soul-body matrix when he made Nights of Cabiria (Le Notti di Cabiria) in 1958, but there is a parallel nonetheless. Walk with me and we’ll discuss . . .