Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You by John Ortberg ($9.99 for the Kindle edition on Amazon) is a somewhat autobiographical book born out of John’s twenty-year-plus friendship with Professor Dallas Willard. He generously credits Willard as a profound influence in his personal journey toward integrated spiritual, emotional, and relational health – what he calls soul keeping. Along the way Ortberg is often transparent. He confesses personal insecurity, pride, pettiness, and more. However, these frank admissions simply add to the authenticity of the book.
A New Perspective on “Losing Your Soul”
Dallas Willard’s unique insights often caught Ortberg by surprise and caused him to see things in a new way. Like Ortberg, I have always interpreted Jesus’ words, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” (Mark 8:36 NLT) as a description of how, after chasing everything but God, a person can end up in hell. However, Willard offers a very different interpretation:
“Jesus is not talking here about people going to hell.” . . . Jesus is talking about a diagnosis, not a destination. . . To lose my soul means I no longer have a healthy center that organizes and guides my life. I am a car without a steering wheel. It doesn’t matter how fast I can go, because I am a crash waiting to happen.
What is the Soul?
Ortberg describes the soul as the “Operating System of Your Life.” He maintains that in both the Old and New Testaments, the soul is often a synonym for the whole person. He explains:
Your soul is what integrates your will (your intentions), your mind (your thoughts and feelings, your values and conscience), and your body (your face, body language, and actions) into a single life. A soul is healthy — well-ordered — when there is harmony between these three entities and God’s intent for all creation. When you are connected with God and other people in life, you have a healthy soul.
What Does the Soul Need to be Healthy?
Nine chapters of the book are devoted to identifying and meeting the soul’s core needs in a God-honoring way. Each chapter contains practical and actionable advice about caring for your own soul as well as the souls of others.
- The Soul Needs A Keeper. According to Dallas Willard, “The main thing you will give your congregation. . . the main thing you will give to God — is the person you become. If your soul is unhealthy, you can’t help anybody. . . You, and nobody else, are responsible for the well-being of your own soul.”
- The Soul Needs A Center. This center must always be our relationship with, connection to, and dependence on God. Ortberg writes,“A very simple way to guard your soul is to ask yourself, ‘Will this situation block my soul’s connection to God?’”
- The Soul Needs A Future. “God planted eternity in our hearts so that we would not stop seeking life beyond ourselves.”
- The Soul Needs To Be With God. “God wants you to focus on him. To be with him. ‘Abide in me.’ Just relax and learn to enjoy his presence.”
- The Soul Needs Rest. “We’re generally quite good at doing something, but we’re really bad at doing nothing. The space where we find rest and healing for our souls is solitude.”
- The Soul Needs Freedom. “Good habits free us, but when sin becomes a habit, our souls lose their freedom. . . . Habits eat willpower for breakfast.”
- The Soul Needs Blessing. “Blessing and cursing are not compartmentalized Bible words at all. They are simply the two ways we treat people. . . . our souls were made to be blessed and cannot survive without blessing.”
- The Soul Needs Satisfaction. “. . . if you devote your life to pleasing yourself, you will actually destroy your soul, whereas if you place honoring God above pleasing yourself, then your soul will be truly satisfied . . . soul-satisfaction is not about acquiring the right things but about acquiring the right soul.”
- The Soul Needs Gratitude. “More gratitude will not come from acquiring more things or experiences, but from more of an awareness of God’s presence and his goodness. It’s a way of looking at life, always perceiving the good.”
A Thoughtful Read
The final chapter recounts Dallas Willard’s last days and passing. Ortberg sees Willard as an example of what a redeemed and well-kept soul can be. Ortberg suggests the following goals based on Willard’s example:
- To be able to say yes or no without anxiety or duplicity
- To speak with confidence and honesty
- To be willing to disappoint anybody, yet ready to bless everybody
- To have a mind filled with more noble thoughts than could ever be spoken
- To share without thinking
- To see without judging
- To be so genuinely humble that each person I see would be an object of wonder
- To love God