Recently I came across the profile picture of a Facebook content creator who had framed her profile picture with the words “peaceful loving sovereign soul – I stand for freedom.”
For a humanist – one who believes in the centrality of humans apart from the existence of God – that is a positive statement. There is indeed nothing wrong with being peaceful, loving, and in support of freedom.
The words “sovereign soul,” however, drew my attention. What does that suggest? Miriam Webster defines sovereign as “being possessed of supreme power.” In other words, not having anyone in authority above you. Someone who considers themselves sovereign is their own king or their own God.
That takes us right to the heart of man’s sin nature. When the serpent convinced Eve to eat from the one tree God had told them not to eat from, he told them that its fruit would make them “like God, knowing the difference between good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). That sums up the heart of sin: considering yourself to be like God. It is the same thing Lucifer thought when he became proud of his beauty and power:
How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14:12-14 – ESV)
The sovereign soul reflects that pride on oneself. It feels entitled to get what it wants, to be admired, validated, and worshipped in some way. It wants the freedom to do what is right in its own eyes and will see any sort of authority, law, or moral principle as restrictive and therefore something to rebel against. The “lawlessness” of the Last Days is the culmination of celebrating whatever outrageous thing you want to be or do and is the complete rejection of any moral law.
The sovereign soul will not acknowledge a Creator because it means bowing to His design in life. It is that rebellion – the decision to accept no God above yourself – that is under God’s condemnation.
What God wants from the people He created in His image is a surrendered soul. The surrendered soul has been convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, has come to the realization that no good indwells us and that we have fallen short of the glory of God. It gladly gives itself up to God’s design for human life and His work in us to live according to His pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).
Surrender is not a yoke of slavery. It is not a forfeiture of freedom, even though that is what the word may suggest to some. Au contraire. The Bible teaches that knowledge of the truth will set you free (John 8:32) and that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Surrender not only gladly acknowledges the sovereignty of God and His supremacy over all of life – it joyfully embraces all He wants to do in us to make us pleasing to Him. Like a patient who surrenders to a doctor with superior knowledge to ours so he can make us well, we surrender to the superior knowledge and wisdom of our God to shape a new, sin-free life in us.
How can surrender not be a loss of freedom when repentance means turning control of your life over from yourself to God?
Because freedom without God is a lie. It’s the dirty little secret the serpent didn’t tell Eve. The knowledge of good and evil brought about surrender to the passions of the flesh, the desires of the body (see Ephesians 2:3) that demand constant fulfillment. That is not freedom – it is slavery.
The implication behind the term “sovereign soul” is that being your own God makes you happy. Instead, it makes you a slave to your passions and to Satan who uses them to keep you away from God and in bondage to Him. We were created to find happiness in God – peace, righteousness, joy, fulfillment, purpose, beauty beyond measure, purity – all the good stuff. It doesn’t exist within us apart from what God puts in us.
The transition between being a sovereign soul and a surrendered soul is repentance – a 180-degree turn from self-worship to God-worship motivated by having our eyes opened to the evil nature and terrible consequences of the sin that indwells us and the truth that real freedom is found in Christ. In a sense, we repent daily. Every morning, we wake up with the tendency of our sinful nature to put itself back on the throne of our lives and we must fight its impulses to set our minds on God. We haven’t lost our salvation – we are waking up to battle against our flesh, the world, and Satan who conspire together to get us back to being “sovereign souls.”
The more we get to know our loving God and experience His love and grace, the easier that battle becomes. But it will never completely go away until we get together.
The crux question of the sovereign versus the surrendered soul is this: What do you thirst after? Self-realization and fulfillment, or finding your joy in Who God is and what He does in you, through you, and for you?
Stay thirsty, my friends. Just make sure you wake up thirsting for the sovereignty of God over your life. Surrender to all that God wants to do in you and for you will lead you and keep you there.