The souls of the wicked desire evil;
their neighbors find no mercy in their eyes.                           

Proverbs 21:10

Every once in a while I hear a discussion of souls. (When there is an airline tragedy, I think I have heard reports of the number of souls on board. There’s a new cable TV advertisement that has the Grim Reaper as one of the characters, and he’s out harvesting souls.) When I read about souls in something like Proverbs, it touches someplace deep. Proverbs 21:10 makes me sad for some – the wicked:

The souls of the wicked desire evil;
their neighbors find no mercy in their eyes.

Here’s a statement about folks who are tainted right down to their core. These people desire evil, and there is no mercy in their eyes. I pity these folks. I know that I should pray for these folks. And I need to make sure that I am never in a position to be described like these folks.

One of my favorite scripture readings is I Corinthians, chapter 13. (And my favorite English translation of this passage is JB Phillips New Testament in Modern English).

In describing a life of love Paul writes:

This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.

Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.

(I Corinthians 13:4-6)

That may be a good description of a pure soul. And it’s a pretty good challenge on how to live life.

Prayer

Dear God, help me to care for my soul today as I care for all those people I may encounter, with the love and grace that I find in my Lord and Savior Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.