Dr. Dan Hayden •
The Afro-American culture likes the word “soul,” as a word to express who they really are. They have “soul music… soul food”. “Soul”– that’s a word that expresses who you really are.
I John 3:16 says, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” God is saying that true love is when you lay down your life–when you sacrifice yourself for someone. You lay down your life.
Now this word “life” in I John 3:16 is the word psuche, where we get our English word “psyche” or “psychology”—the study of the psyche. In The Bible this word psuche is normally translated by the word “soul.” It refers to the “real you” that inhabits your body—who you really are when you take off the mask.
So “laying down your life” doesn’t mean just sacrificing your body. It means opening up who you really are—it means bearing your soul.
The wife was crying, and the husband didn’t have a clue as to why. Finally she said, “I know you’re a good husband. You provide a good living. You do things around the house. But you never give me yourself. I don’t want things—I want you.”
Christ doesn’t just give us things. He gives us Himself. He “laid down” His “psyche” for us, and we ought to lay down our “psyche” for others. That’s true love. It’s “soul love.”
Hey—you don’t really know love until you love with your soul.