An “Old Soul”
“But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” I Peter 3:4
I was thinking about someone the other day, and the phrase “an old soul” came to mind. I had an idea about the personality and lifestyle of someone who could be called “an old soul”, but to understand that phrase better, I looked it up online and found a website, TheMindFool.com, which gave 20 values, traits, and habits of one who is known as “an old soul”. Twenty traits are too many to cover in this blog, but I will attempt to pick out the ones that are most in line with the traits of a person of integrity as described in scripture.
The first trait of an old soul is the determination to value truth, wisdom, and knowledge. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 1:5 that “a wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.” An old soul who also happens to be a Christian knows that knowledge and wisdom come from the fear of the LORD (Proverbs 1:7). An old soul is spiritual. The secular view of a spiritual person is not what Christians consider as spirituality. The world teaches that folks need to have a belief system, but that could be anything from New Age to the occult to atheism. A true spiritual person has his or her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and bases his or her lifestyle as a follower of Christ, worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).
An old soul understands impermanence. A Christian knows that this life is only temporary, and that there is an eternity in which believers will live forever with the Lord. As the old song says, “This world is not my home; I’m just a passing through.” Those who do not know Christ don’t like to think about what happens when a person passes from this life. Their thing is all about the here and now, you know, that old saying, “earn all you can, can all you earn, and sit on the can!” They think they can put off making that all important decision to get right before God, or they do not consider the afterlife at all, some choosing to not believe in the hereafter. That reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw years ago. It said, “God said it. I believe it. And that settles it.” Then I heard someone say, “It is still settled whether one believes it or not!” Folks choose to not believe God’s word at their own peril. These folks think that life will go on as it always has, that “it” can’t happen to them, but the old soul knows that this is not all there is.
The old soul is introspective. A believer is cognizant to examine himself or herself. Does his or her life reflect the righteousness of Christ? Are there any unconfessed sins or any failures to obey God’s command? Once a believer confesses sin or the failure to obey, he or she is not to beat himself or herself up but rather to accept God’s forgiveness. Don’t dwell on what has been confessed and forgiven. Learn from it and move on. An old soul sees the bigger picture. He or she doesn’t get lost in the unimportant and insignificant things that distract from the goals in life. He or she can see the forest in spite of the trees. A believer knows that a better life is ahead and avoids getting bogged down in things that have no eternal significance.
An old soul is not materialistic. He or she is content with the blessings which God has allowed them to have. They don’t spend their lives working for bigger and better stuff. They don’t compete with the next-door neighbors. The writer of Hebrews (13:5) urges us to “be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” It doesn’t get any better than that. If we have Christ in our hearts, we have more than most of the world’s population. An old soul has likely had at least one existential crisis in life. No one gets through this life unscathed. Some suffer more than others. It seems that Christians deal with more crisis than the unbelievers, but we know that suffering makes us stronger and more mature in the faith. Because we have the Lord to help us through the rough times, we can handle tragedy differently than a worldly person does.
The old soul sees life through a different lens. He or she notices little things that others overlook. Believers are more attuned to those around them. They can sense when a person is hurting even as the person tries to hide his or her emotions. Believers offer help, but their greatest aid comes in the form of prayer. Lastly, the old soul practices radical self-acceptance. For the believer, that doesn’t mean being a narcissist or having a “holier than thou” attitude, but rather he or she accepts himself or herself as God has accepted them, a sinner saved by grace, but who strives for excellence in order to reflect Christ in their lives. They know their limitations, but also know that God can provide the strength, courage, and ability to be the man or woman for which God will call them, “Thou good and faithful servant(s)” (Matthew 25:21). The believer is to accept the talents and strengths that God has given him or her and not to covet the talents and strengths of fellow Christians. Christianity is not a competition. In summary, the believer who is an old soul is not old, but rather mature in faith and seeks to live a life of obedience, peace, joy, humility, and righteousness. If someone called me an “old soul”, I would take it as a compliment.