For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12
There is a wonderful promise given by Jesus in the Scriptures that if we remain in Him, He will remain in us (John 15:7). This promise is so important, because it correlates with so many other promises: that God will never leave nor forsake us; that we have a blessed assurance that God is with us; and if God is with us and for us than nothing can stand against us. These promises, found the holy Scriptures are on our minds, and written in our hearts, and we know them to be true.
Yet, we must be careful. We should realize that as true as these promises are, they are also conditional. The condition is “if.” If you remain in me… And as wonderful as it is to be in the presence of almighty God, there are times when we must confess we are not. God has not left us in these times, but we have left God. It’s not that we have denied faith, but sometimes along our faith journey we get distracted. We might get led astray for a moment by something that has caught our attention, and moved it elsewhere. We might become so focused on one thing, that it causes us to have blinders and miss what and where God might be leading us next. We get tired along the way and need a rest, but forget that our rest is in God alone.
It is when these times happen in the life of the Christian, that the words written in Hebrews become both powerful and dangerous. The power in what Hebrews says is that if we become refocused on God by reading what God’s word would speak anew in us; it may help us to come back the source of our conviction, our salvation, and the wellspring of life. It can penetrate us, and help us to realize that we have fallen short of the disciples Christ has called us to be. We find that the words of life are spoken again over us and in us, and lead us back on the path of faith by grace and mercy.
The other side of this, is that when we get tired, unfocused, or even wrong-focused, temptation rises. While the Scriptures teach us wonderful things about God and lead us to the fountain of life, people in the past have used these same Scriptures to push personal agendas, and even to lead the Christian astray. Lest we not forget that when Jesus is tempted in the dessert, the deceiver used even the Scriptures to temp Jesus away from his path.
God in all of this, knows our heart, knows our intentions, and will stand ready to support us, or rebuke us. Let us continue to spend time each day allowing the word of God to speak into us, and may we be aware, focused, and determined to follow Jesus the true Word of God.
Grace & Peace,
Sam