I know that many of us have been victims of injustice. I say, all of us, in one way or another have been victims of evil. But I do not want to focus on the kind of suffering that is the result of external evil; God told us that in this world we will have trouble (John 16:33). I want to focus on the internal evil we do to ourselves when we make bad decisions. First Thessalonians 5:23 tells us,

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (NIV)

The word soul here means, “…the essence of life in terms of thinking, willing, and feeling.^[1] In the soul we have our mind or mindset (The way we think). In the soul we have our will or decision-making and, in our soul, we have our feelings or emotions. 

The Bible encourages us to renew our minds (Romans 12:2). In the famous Psalm 23 David is declaring that God is his Shepherd, and it is God who restores his soul. He adds that God guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. (Psalm 23:3) How does God restores our souls? By leading us in the right path, that is, by teaching us how to make the right decisions. 

Church elders are also called to watch over our souls. Hebrews 13:17 tells us, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account…” (KJV)

Beloved, when our minds are not right; our thinking is not Godly, we will make the wrong decisions; those bad decisions then will have consequences in our emotions (Regret, frustration, resentment, depression, etc.) On the other hand, when our souls are healthy our thinking and mindset is healthy. These means that we will make better decisions and enjoy emotions of peace, joy, satisfaction and gladness.

^[1] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 320.