The Impacted Ego

More Ego

According to the Bible, we (men and women) are tripartite being made in the image of God. We are spirit, soul, and spirit. (Men and women are identical in spirit but different in soul and body. (See Made in the Image of God).

This series of articles on the ego is about the spirit mostly. The vast science of Psychology is about the soul. Personality types, behavior patterns, relationships are about the soul rather the spirit. There is lots of overlap! Soul and spirit usually are closely connection, distinguishable only with God’s help.

Articles 1-4 in this series are mainly about the ego as assertive, domineering, controlling. This article is about the ego turned inward--impacted like a tooth--which can result in recalcitrance, stubbornness, resistance to positive change. Usually we think of movers-and-shakers, pioneers, outspoken radicals, revolutionists as the only valid instruments of change. This is patently false. God is in the fine print and the details. Consider how inexorable springtime is after a long dark, bleak, cold winter. God is love, remember.

"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26 RSV)

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.“ (Hebrews 4:12)

If you are living in a cemetery, if everything is dead and dull and lifeless around you, try resurrection power. That is what it is for. It means that this power takes no notice at all of obstacles, just as Jesus rose from the dead, paying no attention to the stone, to the decrees of Caesar, to the fulminations of the Jewish priests, nor to the guard in front of the tomb. Resurrection power doesn't pay any attention to obstacles. It just surges on ahead, leaves the problems up to God, and goes on. It means that resurrection power requires no outside support. It doesn't rely upon someone else, nor upon something else. It doesn't need a vote of confidence. It doesn't require any kind of undergirding expressions of support from anybody. It can operate alone, completely alone, if necessary. And it means that it makes no noise or display. It doesn't try to arrest attention by some publicity stunt. It just works quietly and, without any noise, effects its transformation, brings life out of death. And further, you will notice that the apostle declares that it is supreme in the universe:

...far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. (Ephesians 1:21 RSV) (RCS)

Soul versus Spirit

Introversion/Extroversion and personality types, temperament, are generally matters of the soul more than the spirit. The overlap is evident when matters of the spirit are discussed.

The key words:Touchy, Manipulative, Controlling, Smothering, Deceitful, Seductive, Recalcitrant, Stubborn, Entrenched, Falsely Humble, Opinionated, Devious, Deceitful, Sinister,
Manipulative...are usually thought of as spiritual rather than soul topics.

Introversion/Extroversion

Usually we are well aware of pompous, arrogant. In-your-face people with inflated egos.

But not everyone is like that! What about shy persons*, the humble, the modest, the introverted?
(* as championed for example by Garrison Keillor from 1974 to 2016).

Psychology has made much ado about all this for good reason.

If the ego is the same entity as the “spirit” the doors for much discussion are wide open.

Scapegoating

There is a cosmic Fall Guy available for any and all of us who admit we need one! That Man is Jesus.

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”(Acts 4:12)

In daily life many of us blameshift without giving it a second thought. Psychologists call this coping mechanism "projection."

It's a built-in system put there by God to keep us from being constantly self-deceived or deluded into thinking I'm not.

Default mode for most of us is "i am god..."

Never mind the real God is "I AM WHO I AM."

Also, God is holy!

"For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." (Galatians 6:3)

Spiritually Dead?

Note: many people are described as “spiritually dead” in the Bible. The term refers to knowing God or not knowing Him:

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.“ (Ephesians 2:1-10)