Penetrating love

 

"The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account." (Hebrews 4:12-16)

The “word” spoken of here can refer to the Sacred Scriptures, the written word of God, or it can refer to the Word, the second person of the Trinity, made flesh in Jesus Christ.

The penetrating power of the word/Word is capable of doing a lot more than giving us a good facelift.  We’re talking about the grace of God getting in between the soul and spirit, joints and marrow.  That’s about as invasive a procedure as one can imagine.  It’s more than something created, because it can even get into the human soul.

Why is such a powerful spiritual anointing necessary?  Because that’s how deeply we can get wounded by our sins and the power of evil that swirls around us.  We can mess up our lives in a royal fashion.  The inner disorder and disorientation from God can be so overpowering that we need a power greater than ourselves to intervene.

All of us are prone to addictions of one sort or another.  Some are mild and not too destructive, but others can get into the very fabric of our life and take control.

The word/Word of God can get to the heart of this woundedness, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow and heal addictions and make us whole.  Often, with great fear and trepidation, we must invite Jesus into these dark and powerful areas of our lives.   Jesus was able to take Levi, a tax collector, and turn him into one of his Apostles, (also known as Matthew) (Mark 2:13-17).  To penetrate between his soul and spirit, Jesus went to Levi and his tax-collecting friends and shared a very intimate and vulnerable moment with them.  He ate a meal with them.  Jesus will join us in meeting our addictions head-on and help us to conquer them.