Stopping Time

Finding yourself in the midst of chaos.

Have you ever had one of “those” weeks? A week when everything decides it is time to break, and you feel like you can’t catch your breath? Multiple projects at work converge into a couple of days of caffeine-fueled panic. Or worse, and admittedly more severe, someone you loved left you too soon, or you received a diagnosis that caused the house of cards to fall. Maybe you found out a spiritual mentor has been hiding behind a mask of strength when, behind the mask, they were becoming irreversibly weak.

Chaos has a way of finding us. It isn’t a matter of if you will face chaos; it’s a matter of when. And when you do, it will reveal the state of your soul.

Before I go any further, let me address what I teach multiple times a month (or week, depending on the message): what is your soul?

The Greek empire dramatically influenced our current society. We don’t know it, but many of our ideals and systems come directly from Ancient Greece. In the Church, we still have many thought processes and even doctrines more rooted in Greek philosophy than Christian teaching. One of those thought processes is how we think of the body and soul.

Like our Ancient Greek brothers and sisters, we think the body and soul are two different, usually autonomous things. We even sing songs about “flying away”…from our bodies…to a disembodied heaven where we float around on clouds with wings and harps. Oh, and don’t forget the baby diapers.

If you read literature like Plato’s The Cave, you’ll be oddly familiar with his thought process. That’s because it is much of what we teach in American Churches about the soul that is trapped in the body, longing to be free.

A more accurate understanding of orthodox Christian teaching on the soul and body is an analogy of a computer. I hate that I’m using something from technology to describe a spiritual truth—I hate what we’ve become in the technological age to the point of rebelling—but it’s the best I can come up with without a 9-week theological course.

A computer is made up of two parts: hardware and software. The hardware consists of the components of the physical computer, such as the screen, keyboard, chips, processors, motherboards, etc. If you have deep computer knowledge, you just discovered how little I know about computers. Anyway, the software is the system that runs on the hardware that gives it life. Without software, you have a pile of computer parts connected without purpose. Without hardware, you have a vibrant system that can accomplish many things without the parts to run it. They are essentially worthless on their own, but people will spend thousands to get their hands on them both together.

When you think of a computer, you don’t think of hardware and software; you think of it as one thing. That’s because it is one thing. It is one body made up of two distinct but essential parts. Just as your one being is made up of many organs that you can’t live without, it is also made up of two primary components you can’t live without: soul and body.

In Greek, the word for soul is the word ψυχή (psuché), and it simply means the inner self. My favorite definition (and the one I use) is ψυχή is your individuality (what makes you “you”). Yet, just like software, your soul only finds meaning when it can operate on the correct hardware of your body. Your body is just that: your body. It’s your physical and mental self that your soul runs on.

As a Bible scholar, I’m fighting the temptation to make this much more complicated because I am not doing this topic justice. My point is to eliminate the notion that your soul is some “Casper the ghost” floating around in your body, ready to escape. It doesn’t work like that. Your soul needs your body, and your body needs your soul.

However, there is also a prioritization that must take place for who we are to operate effectively. This is Paul’s concern when he writes Galatians 6. In Galatians 6:8, Paul says,

If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

“Flesh” is another way of speaking about the body, and here, Paul is talking to the Spirit (as in the Holy Spirit), which gives life to our souls, which, in turn, gives life to our flesh/body. Spending time feeding what our body thinks it needs will lead to corruption (the Greek word for corruption means ruin). What our body truly needs is a healthy soul. But our bodies are how our soul finds outlets to live.

When we are tired, our bodies tell us we must sit on the couch and watch Netflix while simultaneously scrolling Instagram. There is scientific reasoning for this. Social media platforms, our favorite shows, etc., allow our brains to release dopamine. Our body runs on the mantra that “if it feels good, it is good.” However, we know better. Our society is in deep trouble if we can’t disconnect ourselves from tech long enough to look someone in the eye or be bored (God forbid).

These feelings of being overwhelmed, tired, anxious, burned out, and the like are all ways our body tells us there is something sick in our software. If our soul is neglected, our body will start to starve. That’s why none of these temporary hits work to cure the nagging low-grade depression most people carry around. The porn industry is more significant than ever because sick souls escape to temporary pleasure, which masks the symptom that there’s something on the level of reality and who I am that needs to be attended to.

This is why chaos reveals the health of our souls. When life hits hard, are we the house of cards that crumbles, or are we built on a foundation that stands despite whatever comes against it?

There is no shame in admitting you're more of a house of cards than a concrete and steel compound. We’ve all been there, and most of us are still there. The good news is, there is a way out!

We often see Jesus as someone who longs to help us out of tricky situations. There is no biblical basis for this; it’s just something we’ve adopted through experience and a longing to avoid difficulties. Jesus, however, never promises we won’t face hardships. Quite the opposite, he promises we will.

John 16:33 quotes Jesus as saying, “In this world, you will have trouble…” What? Why would a loving God want us to walk through trouble? Peace and maturity can only come when you face and conquer what keeps you from peace and maturity. God isn’t one for avoidance; God is one for victory.

I often teach that we’ve got ministry backward in our modern age. We think ministry is about how many and how fast. Ministry, as modeled throughout history and in the early Church, is about introducing humans to a new way of being. Ministry is about offering a solution to the chaos of life in control. Ministry is about people living fully alive, whether 10 or 10,000.

Yet, in pursuing bigger and faster, we had to trade the Jesus way for the consumer. Jesus spends most of his life in a secret place. The gospels frequently talk about Jesus going away to a desert place. However, this isn’t a sandy terrain with no water and delusion; this, in Greek, is a secret place—a place away from the noise. Jesus knows he has three years of ministry and doesn’t feel pressure or hurry to get things done. Instead, he has the trust to know the Father will have his way in whatever ministry Jesus was supposed to accomplish. So, without the burden of being big and fast, he could remain content in constantly getting out of the noise to recalibrate and remember who he was: not the minister but the son.

He modeled this for his disciples and then said, “Follow me.” Are we following Jesus?

Our bodies long to gain the world; our souls long to gain Him. Nevertheless, when our bodies align with the health of our souls and both long to gain Him, at any expense, we find ourselves living what Jesus came to give us: life to the full.

In my favorite portion of Jesus’ teaching, found in Matthew 11, Jesus offers his disciples (followers) this:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Matthew 11:28 MSG

In the NRSV, we find Jesus saying, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” A yoke is not just what oxen wear to carry loads. The teachings of Rabbis in the time of Jesus were also called yokes. The yoke of a Rabbi was the burden of living out their teaching. For Rabbi Jesus, he encourages that his yoke is light. He doesn’t long to put something heavy on us that we will fail at; he longs to teach us a way that is easy, accessible, and successful for everyone.

But note, Jesus is not offering a way out of the chaos; Jesus is offering a way to live in, through, and beyond the chaos. His yoke is something to wear to carry a load, but the yoke is easy to carry because the load you are carrying is light. Why is it easy and light? Because you have come to [Him]. Within the embrace of Jesus, we find a way that allows us to keep and enjoy our humanity even if the world around us is in absolute chaos.

How do we “come to Him?”

First, change our schedule and priorities. You cannot be a being that is defined by your job. Jobs are important (you have to pay bills and take care of your family). Money is important. But neither of those are who you are nor do either of those deserve to dictate the rest of who you are. You have to change your thinking. I am a human with a soul in need of health for me to be who God made me to be. Use all of your vacation days. Feel the freedom to say no to things that might interfere with what really matters.

However, reprioritizing doesn’t require quitting your job. Most reprioritizing can happen by us coming off of the drug of technology. We spend an average of two hours a day on our phones doing things that don’t matter. We touch our phones between 2,000 and 6,000 times a day. If all you did was get off of social media and YouTube, you would immediately have two hours to “come to Jesus.” Drive in the car without a podcast or music. Go for a walk at lunch, and don’t feel like you have to check in on what everyone is up to. Be in the moment with your kids, and stop worrying about getting the perfect picture to post later.

These are all ways we find ourselves again.

Second, we stop worrying about things that don’t matter and start enjoying things that do. As a pastor, this is so hard sometimes. My livelihood is solely dependent on other people being faithful to God. You can imagine how easy it would be (and is) for me to trail into the thinking of “what if?” However, seven years into pastoring the church we planted, I can say God has been 100% faithful to us, and all the days of anxiety, lost sleep, and glaze because I was somewhere else in my head were a waste. Nothing I feared has come to pass. Yet, it’s so easy to slip into distance again.

So, here’s what I do daily. It might sound dumb, but it has been a game-changer. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I say to myself is, “It’s good to be happy and everything is okay.” Why do I say that? Because I just permitted myself to live the day happy and full of joy, and I also reminded myself that before the anxiety can creep up and start its laundry list of things that could go wrong, everything, in reality, is okay. I don’t have to worry because my Father takes care of everything, so I can be happy.

It’s so simple yet so profound. Happiness eludes us because we fear what might happen later. Jesus calls us to “think not for tomorrow.” This doesn’t mean we don’t plan or have goals; it simply means we have the grace to live in the moment and stop requiring our souls to be somewhere our bodies are not.

Finally, we have to learn to slow down. Life isn’t moving too fast; we are just running through it. Don’t feel the pressure to rush (you know the feeling). Slow down, talk to your neighbors, let a meeting with someone go long, eat inside instead of grabbing the food through the drive-through and eating in the car (or better yet, cook dinner), etc. Slow down and enjoy the moment. Not to be morbid, but you never know how many moments you’ll have to enjoy. Mine as well enjoy the ones that come to you.

Chaos can reveal the health of your soul, but it can also provide an opportunity for your soul to be healthy. Life is too short to stay stuck. The best time to work on soul care is right now. I believe in you!