This Monday morning, I want to start with the thing that came up in class second. One of the scriptures we discussed was Romans 8:38-39. I presented this scripture to demonstrate that no one can take us away from Jesus and God if we don’t want them to. However, since we are a free will tradition, we are capable of turning from God if we choose. Let’s look at that scripture first.
38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38–39 (NASB95)
The question that came up wasn’t about whether or not someone can take us away from God. The question that came up was, “What is a principality?” Someone asked their phone to look up the definition, and it answered that it was an earthly region ruled by a prince. I disagreed with that and expanded it to equate it to areas where people exert power, like city councils, mayors, governors, or presidents. We were both wrong.
In the context Paul uses the term, and it is primarily Paul who uses it in the New Testament, the term “principalities” revolves around heavenly power structures. That’s not even totally accurate because it isn’t just those powers in heaven, but also those in Hell. Thus, principalities refers to both angels and demons, angelic and demonic forces. When Paul tells us nothing can separate us from the love of God and Jesus, he uses these descriptions to mean absolutely nothing, natural or supernatural, can separate us from God’s love. Paul lists everything powerful he can think of that his reader might be aware of to illustrate just how tight a grip God has on His children.
Now, with that idea of no angelic or demonic force in Heaven or Hell able to separate us from God’s love, consider this. You can separate yourself from His love. I can separate myself from His love. I can’t separate you from Him, but I can cause you to decide to move away from Him. We, flawed humans whose lifespan is to God not even a blink of an eye, have enough power to remove ourselves from His love where His angels and all the demons of Hell cannot. Be careful how you wield that power, because it resides in your words and actions.
19A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, And contentions are like the bars of a citadel.
20With the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied; He will be satisfied with the product of his lips.
21Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
Proverbs 18:19–21 (NASB95)
That was the second thing. The first thing was this, as we discussed the soil of the garden of our heart and its condition. My point was that we don’t control the seeds God intends to plant in us, but we do control the condition of the garden. I was specifically focusing on the condition of the “dirt” in which those seeds would be planted. We’ve been talking about tilling the soil, churning it to make it ready for planting.
Loose, well-fertilized soil allows seed roots to grow easily. Soil loosened too much lets the water wash away the dirt that protects the tender seed, exposing it. Once exposed, the birds of the world come and gobble it up, or the deluge of rain washes it away. Too tightly packed dirt also doesn’t let the seed penetrate the surface, lying on top of the dirt where the scorching rays of the sun dry it out, killing it, or again, the birds of the world find it. It was also brought up in class that too much fertilizer in the soil burns up the seed, killing it as well. All these things, too tightly packed or too loose, or too much fertilizer, affect the life of the seed implanted.
We are not the Master Gardener. We aren’t planting the seeds in our garden. God is. God, through His Holy Spirit, sprinkles the seeds of His word into our minds. It is God who connects the sermon, lesson, or devotion to our life-experience, bringing understanding to our mind where confusion and darkness reigned. That connection and realization, “Oh, that’s what that means,” isn’t the one and only meaning, but it is for us at that moment. For us, at that moment in time, God presents to us the information we need to move us a step along His path where He wants us to go.
Our responsibility to the garden of our souls is to make the soil ready. How do we do that? That was the hint at the scripture I posted that presented what I took as the first topic for Monday Morning With Jesus. Let’s look at that now.
1How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
4The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 1:1–6 (NASB95)
That is the very first Psalm in the Bible in its entirety. I drew out verse two, specifically, I drew out the word “meditates” as something we need to focus on. My point wasn’t that we should read and know the commandments, laws, and Word of God, but as the Psalm says, we should meditate on it. So, what does “meditate” mean?
Meditate
[med-i-teyt]
verb (used without object)
meditated, meditating
to engage in thought or contemplation; reflect.
Synonyms: think, study, cogitate, ruminate, muse, ponder
to engage in Transcendental Meditation, devout religious contemplation, or quiescent spiritual introspection.
There are several things in there that need further explanation. I hate definitions that need further defining. I think dictionaries that do that (they all do that) do the reader a disservice. Transcendental meditation is a Hindu practice of sitting quietly, emptying one’s mind, and repeating a phrase over and over. The thought is that it connects the practitioner more closely with the world around him or her.
The other word is quiescent. That word sounds like “quiet,” and essentially, that’s what it means. It does have an added meaning that we are still, without motion. I take that to imply more of the idea that “quiescent spiritual introspection” is quietly contemplating one’s own situation without distractions. I find writing in the mornings, before the world awakens, people start moving about, and things start happening to be quiescent and conducive to my most creative work.
What implications does all that have for our spiritual walk and the condition of the “soil” in the “garden of our hearts”? Our study of God’s Word in the Bible is preparing that soil. Our contemplation of what the Holy Spirit has connected through our studies to our experiences illuminating our understanding is what conditions that soil just right. Our spending time in God’s Word, thinking about the things the Holy Spirit showed us, connecting them to what we already have from God, and then making concrete plans for real next steps is us being good stewards of the life God has gifted us.
It is my opinion that spending time in quiet contemplation of those highlights from the service, lesson, or reading that made us go, “Ah HA!” is how we show God we really love Him. It is love toward God because it is us taking His input into our lives, and acting upon it in a positive way, we realize He would call “good” based on what we read in His Word. Moving in the “good” direction demonstrates our understanding of His Word, and the active steps we take turn that understanding into wisdom. It is that wisdom that reflects to the world around us as God’s love because it shows we really believe what we say we believe. It takes us out of the realm of the hypocrite and puts us firmly into the realm of His children because we show Him we choose his ways and words over the world’s ways and words. In that way, we demonstrate we have eyes to see and ears to hear Him. God bless and Godspeed.