Our soul is the only thing about us that is eternal. This devotional reading looks at how we engage our souls to gain eternal life.
Nuggets
- All souls of mankind belong to God.
- Ezekiel said the soul that sins must die because they are separated from God.
- God offers us salvation to repair the damage done by sin.
We talked a devotion or two back about the soul being the only thing about us that is eternal. The only thing we can do to engage the soul to gain eternal life is to ABCD.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life theme, click the button below.
Here is a running list of nuggets for the theme.
Devotions in the Commit to Grow Our Habits study
Here is a running list of nuggets for the study.
Ownership of Our Souls
“Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die” (Ezek. 18: 4 ESV)
All souls of mankind belong to God.
God told Ezekiel that all souls were His. He did not show favoritism and claim only some of the souls.
God claims all of them.
But it is more than souls are of equal value. Each soul is valued independently.
Adam’ soul does not belong to God because I have submitted my life to Him. Adam is a child of God’s because he has submitted his life to Him.
Clifford took that farther. In Elaine-speak, sin may have entered the world because of Adam’s sin, but our suffering is present for more than that.
We endure suffering because of our own sins.
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Our souls belong to God for all time. They are not His only while we are here on earth. They are His for eternity.
We are God’s in all things. We cannot compartmentalize when we are His and when we aren’t.
I see you jumping up and down in the corner, screaming, “No! No! NO!!! God doesn’t own our souls.”
Yes, He does. Carpenter told us why. He wrote, “We must never for a moment imagine that we can dissociate the idea of God’s rights from the idea of a Divine character. It is the declaration not only of His claim over men by right of His creation of them, but of His nearness to them and His care for them; that they have a claim to His care arising out of His creation of them.”
Resource
All souls belong to God because He is our Creator and He cares for us.
What traits do the soul have? For one, we share the attributes of God. He has made us in His image.
Glossary
The Homilist said we are intelligent, free, influential, and eternal.
Resource
We are smart creatures. We can reason things out.
We have free will to make decisions based on what we have reasoned out. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
We do have influence over others. We can discuss our stories of what God has done for us to help convince them they should submit to Him.
Our souls are eternal. They are the only part of us that will live forever.
We are temporary stewards of our souls so that we may serve God.
I love what Clifford had to say. He wrote, “The motive to Ezekiel’s ministry is the loving, omnipotent, and regenerating God.”
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So many times, we do ministry for the wrong reasons. They are focused on our wants, needs, and benefits rather than serving God.
Being of service to God — especially doing the sheep and the goat list — has to focus on God and His motives.
Glossary
God cares for each and every one of us. He maintains a personal interest in all our dealings — both big and small.
Oh, sometimes, it may be easy to miss signs of God’s care. We may be looking for something else. Or we may have grown complacent and entitled to His blessings.
I think we don’t look close enough. We see smooth sailing as blessings and trials as curses.
Not necessarily so, my friends.
We know that God prunes us when necessary. These trials are needed for our growth.
Separation of Our Souls from God
“And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecc. 12: 7 ESV)
Ezekiel said the soul that sins must die because they are separated from God.
There are two kinds of death. One is physical, and one is spiritual.
This body is going to die. Death is a consequence of the original sin.
Glossary
Upon death, our bodies return to dust. “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3: 19 ESV).
However, our souls will remain for eternity. Guyse gave verses in Scripture as confirmation that souls are immortal.
- “And as her [Rachel’s] soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin” (Gen. 35: 18 ESV).
- “Then he [Elijah] stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come into him again” (I Kgs. 17: 21 ESV).
- “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb. 12: 22-24 ESV).
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Through sin, we have turned our backs on God. Vaughan called us being runaways.
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We are held accountable for our sins. We are accountable for Adam’s sin because all mankind feels it’s effect.
When Adam sinned, he — and us — were separated from God. We cannot endure this separation and live. Separation equals death.
We are also responsible for the sins that we ourselves commit. We choose whether we remain separated from God or not.
The Thinker brought up a good point. He wrote, “No actual sin is ever transferred from one soul to another, nor eternal penalty incurred through the misdeeds of ancestors.”
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It is our fault we sin – we pay the consequences.
Engaging our soul to show love to God is imperative. We cannot hold ourselves from God in any form and expect that we are showing Him love.
Hutchings made an interesting point. He likened death to a withdrawal.
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I can see that as what happens in our physical death. I can also see God’s withdrawal from us because of sin.
Bottom line is we don’t want to remain separated from God.
Restored to God
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt. 10: 28 ESV)
God offers us salvation to repair the damage done by sin.
Luckily, God has offered a way that we can stop being runaways. Only through accepting Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer can the penalty for our sins be paid.
Clarke said it this way. He wrote, “Again, all souls belong to God by redemption. The work of Christ is for all: He died for all, the just and the unjust, that He might bring them to God.”
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Yes, all souls will make it to eternity. The difference is where they are going to spend eternity.
Those who have ABCDed will spend it with God. Those who haven’t, won’t.
What happens when we ABCD?
- “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36: 25-26 ESV).
- “And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.” (Ezek. 37: 14 ESV).
Resource
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
When we repent of our sins and ask Jesus to be our Savior, we accept the Plan of Salvation.
Making the Connections
Many times, we just want to take our sins and hide. We don’t want others to know what we have done — or how bad we are.
But tie this back to what we talked about a couple of devotions ago. Pastor Steve talked about bearing one another’s burdens.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Pastor Steve said that bearing one another’s burdens is fellowship on the deepest level possible. That is where, out of true love, we should strive to be in our fellowship with one another.
Lewis showed how we are to bear things. He wrote, “‘Bear ye one another’s burdens’ — in his relation to his fellow creatures, ‘for each man shall bear his own burden’ — in his relation to God.”
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God wants to make us new creations so that we can spread the word of His love.
How Do We Apply This?
- Be dedicated to the service of God because our souls belong to Him.
- Act according to the Will of God.
- Rely totally on God for His protection.
- Constantly maintain that God does, indeed, own our souls.
- Love Him with all heart, soul, mind, and strength.
- Trust God implicitly.
- Serve Him as He calls.
- Realize how much God values us.
- Fix being separated from God.
- Don’t make excuses for sin.
- Show gratitude to God for saving our souls.
- Pray when we experience trials.
- View death as a gateway to eternal life.
Resource
Father God. When mankind disobeyed You, You could have left us to our fate — to realize the consequences of our actions. You didn’t. You designed the Plan of Salvation so that we could be restored to You. Convict us until all accept this wonderful Plan. Amen.
What do you think?
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