Soul Guardian

Movies are made and books are written that reflect the fact that as humans, we have a yearning to be cared for and protected. For hope to prevail within our hearts and in society, we need heroes. We believe that we are self-sufficient, but deep inside we want to know that there is someone bigger and stronger than us to rescue us.  We can deny it, but popular culture is full of heroes who rush in to save the day, and we rush in to watch or read all about it. 

I heard a story about a young man whose mom was so messed up that she wanted him to fail. The better he did the worse she felt about herself, so the worse she wanted to make him feel.  Fortunately, someone came along who recognized that this young man needed help. Someone who could be responsible for his care: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Someone who said, I"t is my pleasure to see you do well, to see you succeed, to see you grow".  He needed a hero.  He needed a guardian.

 A guardian is an overseer or a watcher. They protect and guide. Scripture tells us that Jesus is the ultimate in guardians. He is in fact, the guardian of your soul.

1 Peter 2:25 “Once you were like sheep who wandered away, but now you have turned to your shepherd, the guardian of your souls.”

It is interesting that the guardian in this scripture is not presented to us in the form of a super hero complete with cape, mask and tights flying in to save the day.  The guardian of our souls is a shepherd. While many of us may not be aware of all of a shepherd’s duties, we can all agree that they care for sheep. They have an entire flock of folks to be watching out for. However, sheep are known for wandering away. We like sheep, also tend to wander. We are looking for the next adventure or the next cool thing, and wander toward the newest bright and shiny light.

In 1 Peter, it says, once we were like these wandering sheep, then we turned to our shepherd, the one who is our protector and overseer. Superman looks pretty spiffy, and Batman is super cool, but our protector doesn’t just watch over our outer shell, he guards our soul…the very essence of who I am, protected by the very one who made me. My soul guardian:  Imagine the cape for that!