You Slay Me

SLANG INTERPRETATION:

 I am totally overwhelmed with something like laughter and/or affection for you.

GOD'S VERSION: 

I open God's Word and find it to be a double-edged sword that cuts straight to my heart because 

HE LOVES ME.

IT IS LIVING AND ACTIVE

God's word can never die...when He speaks it is TRUTH and it is POWER and it is LIFE.  It will always be living and it will always be revealing TRUTH and piercing through OUR BLUR to show us exactly what lies beneath the gray.  If we want our words and actions to result in life-giving power, we HAVE to be in HIS WORD.

I have always thought it strange that the Bible talks about this double-edged sword as being able to divide the soul from the spirit.  In my mind, I have kind-of assumed these were one in the same...but, I recently read a devotional that explained it in a new light for me.  The reading said the Word of God has to cut the natural part of us, the soul we are born with, from the supernatural spirit that is born in us through Christ.  The sword has to be incredibly sharp and precise to do that for us.

So, there's the thoughtful, "Why must it do that?" and then, there is the feeling....

"OUCH....THAT HURTS!"

I recently had to have a biopsy due to a spot on my skin that concerned my Dr (it ended up fine, but)....I felt the pain of that one because it needed to be 

TESTED.

Ever wondered the difference between a trial and a test?  I have.  I think the double-edged sword is a good example of the TESTING that God administers.  When the sword penetrates though soul and spirit....the natural part of our desires and motives are cut and our spiritual thoughts, intentions, the heart of our motives are laid bare...this is the point where our TRUE SELF is revealed.  The reason it is necessary is that we can become really good....great....even expert level deceivers.  We can deceive OURSELVES we are so good at it.  See why the sword has to be so sharp...it has to cut our real self from our "self"...sometimes we even think we are one in the same, right? Does that make any sense to anyone but me?

Only GOD'S WORD can cut through our own deception to judge the thoughts and motives of our hearts.  PRAISE GOD it is not the final judgement!  Wouldn't you want to know if there was no living marrow in your bones if you had access to your cure?  

The WORD CAN WOUND us when we are tested, 

and LIFE CAN LEAVE SCARS from trials....

A lot of people argue that GOD wouldn't do anything to us that causes pain...obviously, so much pain is due to our fallen nature and the state of our broken world....but, I am not sure I am in that camp that says "God would never..."  because I don't know that HE is as concerned with our pain tolerance as we think HE is.  NOT that I think HE is out to torment us, but I think pain is one of HIS tools to make us HOLY.  We are the ones who choose to identify all pain as EVIL. If it is evil, why the need for the sword, why the fire to purify us, why do we become more like Christ in our suffering if pain was not a means to a GLORIOUS END?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyUPz6_TciY

You can't see what it is doing....BUT, it is doing something GENUINELY GLORIOUS!