Love is Laying Down Your Soul

August 3, 2015

Laying down your soul for someone else sounds like an impossible task, doesn’t it? It sounds like a recipe for pain and further emotional damage.

The thing is, you can’t truly lay down your soul for another until you lay it down for yourself.

Let’s get practical. I mentioned before that love has to come from God and go through us, and that we can’t love (lay down our soul) without it. So how do we go about getting that love from His soul?

First, we have to surrender to God. If you’ve been hurt—and that’s a given; it’s only a matter of degree—you’re probably afraid of surrender. The thought might make you very angry. That’s okay. Hear me out.

If you have anger toward God, like I did, it’s really hard to surrender to Him. It can feel like you are being forced to give up your very self. Actually, you are only giving up the false self and the lies you’ve believed about yourself.

God doesn’t want you to live a lie. He wants you to live the truth of who He created you to be.

By the way, this isn’t often a one-time deal. You will usually be able to receive the image of a new and true identity in one sitting, but laying down your soul is a day-by-day practice. Sometimes it has to be minute-by-minute.

Let’s talk about laying down your soul for yourself. Why is this necessary? It’s the only way to consistently receive God’s mind, will, and emotions.

Have you ever asked God to let you see someone through His eyes? This is a way to lay down your soul. You are asking for God’s heart about a person, because how He sees them is a picture of what He thinks of them. If you accept and receive that image, it changes how you see and think about a person. It sanctifies your mind, will and emotions about them. You will want God’s desires for them.

Do the same for yourself. Ask God how He sees you, then listen and watch for the answer. It’s humbling and uplifting to know the truth. He has never told me He sees me as a wretched, damaged sinner. He always sees me as being clothed in dignity, beauty, truth . . . good things.

So lay down your thoughts and ideas about yourself and take up His. Lay down your desires for yourself and receive His. Lay down your feelings about yourself and accept His.