Become New with John Ortberg

How is it with your soul?
It's probably not a question anyone else will ask you today.
But it may be one of the most important questions you can ask yourself.
In this reflection on the Psalms, John Ortberg draws from Renovation of the Heart to explore what the soul actually is and why its health affects everything else in our lives.
Dallas Willard describes the soul as an inner stream of water that brings strength, direction, and harmony to the rest of our being.
That's why the Psalms repeatedly use the language of water:
“My soul thirsts for You.”
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You.”
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.”
John then tells the story of a beautiful village whose life depended upon a crystal-clear stream. When the unseen keeper of that stream was dismissed, everything seemed fine...for a while.
Then the water began to change.
Eventually, the entire village felt the effects.
Our souls can work the same way.
We can neglect what's happening beneath the surface while remaining busy with everything that seems more urgent.
But eventually, everything flows downstream.
So ask yourself today:
How is it with my soul?
The stream is your soul.
And you are its keeper.
In this episode:
 What is the soul? 
 Why the Psalms are the great “soul book” 
 Dallas Willard on the inner life 
 Why the Psalms repeatedly use water imagery 
 The soul as an inner stream 
 How the health of your soul affects everything else 
 Why unseen spiritual work matters 
 The parable of the keeper of the stream 
 What happens when we neglect our souls 
 How to begin tending your inner life 
Scriptures:
Psalm 121:7 • Psalm 63:1 • Psalm 42:1–2 • Psalm 46:4
#JohnOrtberg #Soul #Psalms #DallasWillard #SpiritualFormation #Prayer #ChristianFaith #InnerLife #BibleStudy #SpiritualHealth
Suggested YouTube Chapters
00:00 How Is It With Your Soul?
 00:33 What Is the Soul?
 00:59 The Psalms: The Great Soul Book
 01:16 Who Is the Keeper of Your Soul?
 01:34 My Soul Thirsts for God
 01:51 As the Deer Pants for Water
 02:20 The Soul Is an Inner Stream
 02:43 How Healthy Is Your Soul Today?
 03:07 What a Healthy Soul Looks Like
 03:34 Where Does Your Soul Get Its Life?
 03:48 The Keeper of the Stream
 04:11 A Beautiful Village in the Alps
 04:35 The Old Man Nobody Noticed
 04:59 The Unseen Work of Tending the Stream
 05:25 What Happens When the Stream Is Neglected
 05:39 At First, Nobody Noticed
 06:02 The Whole Village Begins to Suffer
 06:11 The Life of the Village Depends on the Stream
 06:35 The Stream Is Restored
 06:41 You Are the Keeper of Your Soul

What if you haven't lived up to your potential?
In this reflection on Psalm 8, John Ortberg explores one of the great wonders of God's creation: human potential.
You can count the seeds in an apple.
But you cannot count the apples in a seed.
Human beings possess an extraordinary capacity to grow, create, love, serve and become. Psalm 8 looks at the vastness of the heavens and then marvels that God is mindful of us.
But there's another side to potential.
It can become a burden.
I should be further along.
I should have accomplished more.
I should have made better decisions.
I should be more successful, disciplined, attractive, productive or fulfilled.
What happens when the possibility of what we could become turns into disappointment over what we haven't become?
John offers two truths to carry with us:
“I am but dust and ashes.”
And:
“The whole world was created on my account.”
One reminds us that we are limited creatures.
The other reminds us that we are deeply loved.
And if you're worried that too much of your life has already passed or that you've wasted your potential, remember:
God never gets trapped in the past.
Today is still here.
And who knows what God may yet have in store?
In this episode:
Psalm 8 and human potential
Recovering awe and wonder
Why we become blasé about extraordinary things
Abraham Joshua Heschel on human possibility
What it means to participate in the divine nature
How potential becomes a burden
The pressure to constantly optimize our lives
“I am but dust and ashes”
“The whole world was created on my account”
What to do when you feel insignificant
What to do when you feel too important
Letting go of regret about wasted potential
Why God isn't trapped in your past
Scriptures:
 Psalm 8 • 2 Peter 1:4 • Genesis 18:27 • Luke 23:39–43
#Psalm8 #JohnOrtberg #Potential #Psalms #SpiritualFormation #Purpose #ChristianFaith #BibleStudy #Identity #Hope
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Music Credits:
Vikersund by RØRE - MB01V0UASAACPKE
Alta by RØRE - MB01IWZVJASGKHF
00:00 The Burden of Potential
 00:11 You Can't Count the Apples in a Seed
 00:34 Psalm 8 & Human Potential
 00:55 Have You Considered the Heavens Lately?
 01:15 How We Lose Our Sense of Wonder
 01:33 What Is Mankind That You Are Mindful of Us?
 02:05 The Potential of the Human Soul
 02:22 What Could This Child Become?
 02:54 Apples in a Seed
 03:05 Made to Participate With God
 03:22 Participate in the Divine Nature
 04:19 Do You Remember What It Was Like With God?
 05:31 The Legend of the Child and the Torah
 06:44 E. E. Cummings & the Wonder of Creation
 07:12 When Potential Becomes a Burden
 07:32 What Am I Going to Do With All This Potential?
 08:00 The Pressure to Optimize Your Life
 08:59 Two Truths You Need to Carry
 09:27 I Am But Dust and Ashes
 09:33 The Whole World Was Created on My Account
 09:45 When You Feel Too Important
 10:04 When You Feel Insignificant
 10:25 What If You've Wasted Your Potential?
 10:47 The Thief on the Cross
 11:08 God Isn't Trapped in Your Past
 11:18 You Still Can't Count the Apples in a Seed

What do you really want?
According to the Gospel of John, that's the first question Jesus asks His would-be disciples:
“What do you want?”
In this reflection on Psalm 1, John Ortberg explores why that may be one of the most important questions we ever answer.
Our lives have a way of organizing themselves around our deepest desires.
How do you spend your time?
Your money?
What makes you angry?
What are you willing to sacrifice for?
Those things often reveal what we want more accurately than our words do.
Psalm 1 gives us a picture of a different kind of life: a flourishing person, like a tree planted beside streams of water, with roots sunk deeply into God.
And John closes with the remarkable story of Natan Sharansky, who spent years imprisoned in the Soviet Union and memorized the entire Book of Psalms.
When he was finally released, Sharansky refused to cross the bridge to freedom until his captors returned his copy of the Psalms.
What we fill our minds with matters.
Because what fills our minds helps shape what we desire.
So today, ask yourself:
What do I really want?
And:
What am I filling my mind with?
In this episode:
The first question Jesus asks in John's Gospel
How our lives reveal what we actually want
Psalm 1 and the meaning of “blessed”
What biblical flourishing looks like
The tree planted beside streams of water
Why invisible roots matter
The progression of walking, standing and sitting
Why Psalm 1 isn't a formula for easy circumstances
How inner goodness crowds out envy and greed
Natan Sharansky's remarkable story
How the Psalms sustained him through Soviet imprisonment
Why what we fill our minds with shapes our lives
Scriptures:
 John 1:35–38 • Psalm 1 • Acts 20:35 • Matthew 7:12
#Psalm1 #JohnOrtberg #Psalms #Jesus #SpiritualFormation #Flourishing #BibleStudy #ChristianFaith #Prayer #NatanSharansky
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Music Credits:
Vikersund by RØRE - MB01V0UASAACPKE
Alta by RØRE - MB01IWZVJASGKHF
00:00 What Do You Want?
 00:27 The First Question Jesus Asked
 00:39 What Your Life Reveals About You
 01:06 What Do You REALLY Want?
 01:31 What Kind of Person Do You Want to Be?
 01:53 Living With Blinders On
 02:10 When Nothing Feels Worth Wanting
 02:40 Psalm 1 & the Blessed Life
 03:05 What Does “Blessed” Mean?
 03:32 A Tree Planted by Streams of Water
 03:54 Two Ways to Live
 04:14 The Roots Nobody Sees
 04:40 Rooted and Nourished by God
 05:03 The Challenge of Translating Hebrew
 05:49 “Let's Eat, Kids”
 06:18 Psalm 1 Guides Us Toward Happiness
 06:43 Walk, Stand, Sit
 07:14 Why Goodness Is Easy to Mock
 07:37 Psalm 1 Isn't a Formula
 07:59 What Inner Goodness Does
 08:23 What Do You Want?
 08:33 What Will You Fill Your Mind With?
 08:38 Natan Sharansky's Story
 09:15 A Book of Psalms in a Soviet Prison
 09:40 Three Ways He Survived Solitary Confinement
 10:01 Memorizing the Entire Book of Psalms
 10:31 He Refused Freedom Without His Psalms
 10:54 Zigzagging Across the Bridge to Freedom
 11:17 Carrying the Psalms to Jerusalem
 11:34 What Will You Carry in Your Mind?

Today is a good day to die.
Which means it's a good day to come alive.
In this reflection on Psalm 51, John Ortberg explores an old Christian word that doesn't get used much anymore: mortification.
It sounds miserable.
But properly understood, mortification isn't about becoming miserable.
It's about becoming free.
John describes two selves within us: the impulsive self, driven by whatever we happen to want right now, and the valuing self, shaped by what we most deeply believe matters: love, joy, peace, patience and generosity.
The goal of the spiritual life isn't to spend every day desperately resisting everything we want.
It's to increasingly become the kind of person who is no longer controlled by destructive desires.
Drawing from Psalm 51, Romans 8, and Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find, John explores Jesus' strange invitation to die in order to truly live.
To mortify is to liberate.
And it can begin with one very small act today.
In this episode:
 What “mortification” actually means 
 Jesus' paradox of dying in order to live 
 Samuel Johnson on how death clarifies life 
 Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find
 Psalm 51 and David's prayer of repentance 
 The impulsive self vs. the valuing self 
 Why following Jesus isn't endless miserable resistance 
 How destructive desires lose their power 
 Mortification as liberation 
 A simple practice for becoming more free today 
Scriptures:
Psalm 51 • Romans 8:13 • 2 Samuel 11–12 • Matthew 16:25
#Psalm51 #JohnOrtberg #Psalms #SpiritualFormation #Freedom #DyingToSelf #ChristianFaith #BibleStudy #Jesus #Transformation
🙌 New episodes every weekday.
📲 Subscribe, like, and share to help others grow spiritually. One day at a time.

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Music Credits:
Vikersund by RØRE - MB01V0UASAACPKE
Alta by RØRE - MB01IWZVJASGKHF

00:00 Today Is a Good Day to Die
 00:32 Why Mortification Is a Good Thing
 01:01 Which of Your Two Selves Needs to Die?
 01:29 Death Concentrates the Mind
 01:56 Flannery O'Connor & A Good Man Is Hard to Find
02:52 Meet the Grandmother
03:37 The Misfit
04:08 A Strange Moment of Grace
04:37 “You're One of My Children”
04:59 What Facing Death Did to Her
05:23 What Needs to Die in Me?
05:58 Romans 8: Put It to Death and Live
06:21 Psalm 51 & David's Sin
06:54 Our Sin Isn't Always Before Us
07:17 Create in Me a Pure Heart
07:43 Mortification Isn't Misery
08:05 The Life of the Spirit
08:31 Your Two Selves
08:51 The Valuing Self
09:17 To Mortify Is to Liberate
09:25 Freedom From Destructive Desires
10:10 Addiction, Resentment & Approval
10:44 What Real Freedom Looks Like
11:15 A Good Day to Die
11:38 Practice One Small Act of Mortification
11:58 Don't Do One Thing You Want to Do
12:24 He Will Make You Free

You were made for great joy...but what do you do when you don't feel particularly joyful?

In this reflection on Psalm 47, John Ortberg explores a surprisingly practical answer: Do something joyful.

Sing.

Clap.

Dance.

Go outside.

Listen to birds.

Look into the face of someone you love.

Maybe even skip.

The Psalms weren't merely written to be read. They were meant to be sung.

Drawing from William Law and the James-Lange theory of emotion, John explores the fascinating relationship between our bodies and our inner lives.

We can't simply command ourselves to feel happy. Our emotions don't work that way.

But we can choose our actions.

And because our bodies and souls are deeply connected, the things we choose to do can help shape what's happening inside our hearts.

So don't wait until you feel joyful to sing.

Sometimes, singing helps lead us toward joy.

This is your day.

You can make this day a song.

In this episode:

Psalm 47 and the command to sing
Why the Psalms were meant to be sung
William Law on singing the Psalms
The relationship between body and emotion
Why “just choose to be happy” doesn't work
The James-Lange theory of emotion
Why the Psalms include dancing and other physical practices
How our outward actions can shape our inward lives
Practical ways to move toward joy
Making your day a song

Scriptures:
Psalm 47 • Psalm 113:3

#Psalm47 #JohnOrtberg #Joy #Psalms #Worship #SpiritualFormation #ChristianFaith #BibleStudy #Prayer #Happiness

🙌 New episodes every weekday.
📲 Subscribe, like, and share to help others grow spiritually. One day at a time.

Become New is here to help you grow spiritually one day at a time.
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Music Credits:
Vikersund by RØRE - MB01V0UASAACPKE
Alta by RØRE - MB01IWZVJASGKHF

00:00 You Were Made for Great Joy
00:25 How Your Life Becomes a Song
00:48 Psalm 47: Sing Praises
01:20 Sing, Sing, Sing
01:46 Why Were the Psalms Meant to Be Sung?
02:09 William Law on Singing the Psalms
02:32 Don't Just Read the Psalm
02:57 How Singing Changes the Heart
03:21 The James-Lange Theory of Emotion
03:51 Your Body Can Affect Your Feelings
04:11 It's Hard to Be Depressed While You Skip
04:27 From the Rising of the Sun
04:45 How the Body Influences Emotion
05:09 John's Blind Date Advice
05:24 The Union of Soul and Body
06:14 You Can't Just Choose to Be Happy
06:41 How Much Power Do We Have Over Ourselves?
07:05 Choose the Outward Action
07:41 Why Singing the Psalms Matters
08:03 Do Something That Leads to Joy
08:33 Sing, Skip, Dance
08:55 Make This Day a Song