The Soul Craves...

The last few months most of what I've been reading has been about the human soul. It is a most complicated of subjects and few are able to speak about it confidently. There is one thread that seems to run through many of the material on the soul; that is, the soul is a thing that is constantly desiring. The soul craves...

What does it crave? Well from my Christian perspective I would say that the soul craves its creator, but I think the more simple answer is that the soul craves satisfaction. The soul, as a desiring thing, makes us desire to do things that make it feel satisfied. I believe sometimes we respond to that craving from the flesh, and other times we respond from the spirit.

Think about it like a person hungry and putting a request out there for a friend to bring food. One friend (the flesh) only brings junk food, the other friend (the spirit) only brings healthy and nutritional food. We are in control of who the deliverer is. Either way the soul receives and takes in what has been delivered. Then after time passes it begins craving more. I haven't completely worked out my thoughts, but I think I'm on the right track.I deciding to post this blog because of an article I read about UFC star, Conor McGregor. Read what it says in the picture below:

The author of that article, Mark Kriegel, astutely observed how Conor McGregor did things that caused him to stand out from his peers in the UFC. Perhaps his soul simply wanted to be known. This in and of itself is a good thing. We all desire to be known and loved and appreciated. But the question is, how can I get noticed? This is where a delivery person (spirit or flesh) show up with different options. The flesh shows up with vanity, the spirit shows up suggesting something like, I don't know, working hard and letting your work and character cause you to be noticed. Conor apparently fed off of the former. While he did work hard, he became known for his antics, and his antics gained him notoriety (his nickname is even Notorious), and eventually turned him into a caricature.I believe that the course of time the soul begins to take upon the characteristics of what it has been receiving the most. The "You are what you eat" saying doesn't directly apply, but it is in the same zip code.

The apostle Paul hit the nail on the head when he said: "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (Romans 8:13).

In the former the flesh makes the call, and selfishly recommends behaviors to the soul that are immediately pleasing to the flesh, but destructive to body, soul and spirit in the long run. In the latter the spirit the makes the call and recommends behaviors that in the short run are destructive to the flesh, but in the long run it cause the spirit, soul and body to experience well-being.

Conor McGregor is not beyond redemption. Neither are we. In the same way he formed himself into the kind of person he now is, by the grace of God he can be transformed into the kind of person God creates him to be. He can move from disintegration of the self to integration of the self.

The same is true for you and I.By the way, if you're reading this and have a recommendation for a good book on the soul, please leave it in the comments section.

Thanks for reading.