Is Your S0ul In Danger?
Taken from a Red Rock News Article
Rev. Dona Johnson | July 28, 2024
A deep and abiding question for people of faith is this: is my soul in danger? In other words, what is the state of your spiritual life. Is your moral integrity in danger? Does it seem like today, there is a shorter supply of moral integrity than ever before? Social media, texting, videotaping have all rapidly expanded a platform for people to raise their voices like never before. Social media has provided an immediate way, a communal way to speak out about wrong doing both in helpful and wrongful ways. It has also provided a way to unleash information that is untrue, that tears apart people’s reputations and normalizes harmful behaviors. We see in real time news cycles displaying harmful behaviors in all its forms: misogyny, racism, prejudices and discrimination existing everywhere—in religion, politics, academics and in family life.
Moral integrity or the lack thereof has been so much a part of the human condition from the very beginning of time. It is a human problem and it is present in every generation. The culture has such a gravitational pull on every Christian’s heart. It has the church by the scruff of the neck wanting to force it to agree with the ways of the world.
What is integrity anyway? The Cambridge Dictionary defines ‘integrity’ as the virtue of being honest and having strong moral principles that you live out and refuse to change. Integrity also represents a consistency and congruency in how we think, what we say and what we do. For Christians it means to embody at a very deep level the faith practices and live out the teachings of Jesus. These practices reshape our personalities and how we react to others.
Rich Villodas author of “The Deeply Formed Life,” in a recent podcast said, “I have the theological conviction that I am susceptible of living with integrity, as well as not living with integrity. I try to live with the practice that my soul is in danger of losing its center.”
Jesus often talked about this spiritual center. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matt. 16:26). Paul also understood the human temptation to be selfish and self-centered, to live a life where you will go to any length to get what you want. All things are lawful [that is, morally legitimate, permissible says Paul, but not all things are beneficial or advantageous (1 Cor 10:24). There is nothing more real than Christian freedom, but as we are freed of sin through the life and death of Jesus Christ, we are at the same time bound to him in love to live a life of integrity before him.
How do you keep the state of your soul free from the sin and distractions in this world? For one, make yourself available to honest counsel from close friends or spouses, people who see your life through the lens of the Christian faith. We need a lot of trusted friends around us to help us protect our integrity. There are also seasons in our lives, where we may need to seek therapy or spiritual direction to sort through unresolved conflicts and hurts that rob our souls of peace. We may have friends who no matter what always agree and take our side. While other friends offer needed criticism that will help us improve ourselves and our walk with Christ (Proverbs 27:17). Another way we can protect our souls is to honor the Fourth Commandment, keep the Sabbath holy. A lot of things get violated when we are tired, overworked and fraught with too many demands. We may say something mean-spirited; tempers flare and we may lie and cheat in our fidelity to God and others. Keeping trusted friends close to us, examining our reactions with others, keeping one day a week free to worship God, we live from a place of depth, wisdom and discernment and that produces a life of integrity and keeps our souls safe from danger.