Of Bones and Marrow
Of Bones and Marrow
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires (Hebrews 4:12 New Living Translation).
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how alive Scripture is; I am always amazed every time I sit down to read. There is always something speaking directly to me and my current situation, as well as times when I will read a portion of Scripture I never quite understood and BAM! I understand it clearly now! I am certain this does not only happen to me, but also to you, and it is a wondrous thing when it does!
God’s word is alive and powerful and what I love most about it is the cutting it does. His word cuts, prunes and divides – it says between soul and spirit and between joint and marrow. Soul and spirit, I can see it cutting and dividing there, but bones and marrow? They go hand in hand, don’t they? Think about it, bones are what our flesh wraps around, keeping us from being a mushy pile of matter; the marrow inside our bones is where new blood cells are formed. In the human body, the breakdown of either can lead to catastrophic consequences. Naturally, we wouldn’t want our bones and marrow cut apart.
In a spiritual sense, the word of God needs to separate apart bones and marrow, exposing hidden lurkers. Recently the Lord has shown me different pictures and given me various words. After praying about them and meditating on them, I can see the correlation of what we actually believe about Scripture, our doctrines, our faith walk and how that can exponentially differ from actually walking out a faith and love walk with God. You see, it really does all come down to love. On Sunday, the Lord spoke to me that He was giving “accelerated love”. He will teach us to love simply by loving on us. We must purpose in our hearts to love others no matter what they are doing, or how they are living, and if we need help loving, He is there to teach us. Too often, we condemn others by sharing with them “in love”, yet constantly point out all the things they do we don’t agree with. Still, others are beat over the head with Scripture, but continue to face condemnation from Believers. This breaks God’s heart. We were given two commandments by Jesus – to love God with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our strength, and to love others as ourselves. Tell me, would you appreciate constantly being berated because you made different choices than someone else? Would you like to be constantly told you are going to hell? When digging into the life of Christ, we see pictures throughout where He did not condemn a repentant sinner, nor did He constantly wave the sin in their face. He did, however, speak out against those who were self-righteous and proud such as the Pharisees and Sadducees. How like the Pharisees and Sadducees we can be when we put ourselves in a position above those we consider lost and unsaved? Jesus knows the heart of every person and He knows love is the key to opening the door of the heart.
We speak what we have been taught, most of the time without questioning it, and while it often is sound doctrine, there can often be seeds of man peppered throughout. God spoke to me about being on the bandwagon – not to always follow the crowd, for all things may be lawful, but they are not all good for us. He has spoken to me about asking Him my deep questions and testing the spirit behind every teaching. We are human, we don’t have all the answers, we don’t interpret Scripture all the same, and we each have a different relationship with God than someone else. We will notice when God begins to separate our bones from our marrow when we decide to search Scripture seeking deeper revelation of Him and His love. The Bible was written for everyone; to know God for ourselves, to learn how to love others, to gain wisdom in sharing Christ and Him Crucified, and to explain how powerful the name of Jesus really is we must allow for the Word to cut, separate and divide the marrow from our bones.
Let’s Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the blessing of a new day! Thank You for being faithful to show us the correct way, Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We praise You because You are wonderful and You desire for us to grow and go to a deeper level with You, to understand just how much You love us and to enable and equip us to love others. Father, teach us to love, cut and separate our bones and marrow, removing the doctrines of man and religion, cutting off the roots of Pharisaical thinking and burning away the chaff of our flesh. Give us clean hearts and new spirits, and make us contagious, loving reflections of Christ in this world, for as He is, so are we. May we not get caught up in trying to “do” all this in our own strength, but from the place of rest in You. Oh, how we love You and desire to know You more. You are so worthy of it all, all our praise, all our worship, all the adoration and all the glory! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Today’s Attitude of Worship: Instead of giving someone “how to live” advice, try simply loving them instead. Serve them with a smile and kind words. I dare you. 😉
Additional Scriptures: Hebrews 4:13; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 1 Corinthians 6:12
Shalom,
Prudence ♥