Devotional: Mind vs Soul

“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. I trust in you, my God!” Psalm 25:1

Over the last couple weeks I’ve been praying and learning a lot about the relationship of the mind and soul. Have you ever stopped to think about how the two work together, or against each other, at times? It’s honestly not something I’ve ever considered, but I feel like God has been revealing little things to me that have helped me understand how the two work together.

As someone who’s struggled with both anxiety and depression in my 30s, I often feel ashamed of my feelings. If I wake up feeling off one day, or my mind is inundated with negative thoughts, it feels very discouraging. But the other day, as I was feeling down about various things, God gently reminded me that the mind is an unstable indicator to base our lives on. Feelings come and go and they are impacted by all kinds of things in any given day. Thoughts come out of no where with seemingly no rhyme or reason (I was randomly singing a song the other day that I haven’t heard in years!). The mind is almost like a wild animal–it must be tethered to something stronger in order to be tamed. It must be disciplined. And that’s where the soul comes in: the soul, or our heart, is the anchor. And when our souls are tethered to Jesus Christ, our thoughts simply become these things that need to be submissive to the soul.

Instead of looking at negative feelings with shame and discouragement, what if we looked at them with compassion? What if we gently reminded ourselves that despite all the alarms going off in the mind, the soul is ultimately the boss.

Jesus Christ is the anchor of our soul.

The soul is where God speaks to us. It’s where He calls us to Him. It’s where we feel this longing for something more–an unknown void that can never be filled up by the world, but only by the light and love of Jesus Christ. That’s where we find our identity. That’s our anchor in this life.

So let us gently remind our wayward minds that our thoughts must become submissive to the truth in our soul. On the days we don’t feel good, or have too much sugar, or don’t get enough sleep, or let the lies of comparison steal our joy, etc etc etc. That doesn’t define who we are, so let’s allow those feelings to come and go as we take our thoughts captive to the truth in our soul. The human mind is both powerful, yet flawed at the same time. And with God’s help, we can renew our minds and thoughts to become obedient to His truth.

“For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.” Romans 5:5

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” Psalm 42:1

“We are human, but we don’t wage war with human plans and methods. We use God’s mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil’s strongholds.” Romans 10:3-4

“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. I trust in you, my God!” Psalm 25:1