Hello again, Mara.
My phone says it’s 27 degrees. Chilly!
Hmm. I just talked to your daddy on the phone. Since he might come out here to get some firewood this morning, that means I might even see you—assuming you would come along too. Cool. I could handle that. I think I’ll get active today too with processing some firewood and stack a bunch next to our wood stove to be drying out its rain moisture before burning.
I guess I’m dropping on you a fairly lengthy devotional essay this morning. One thought leads to another, and I find it hard to trim back. Oh well—I’ll leave it be with the confidence that it can’t hurt you too much.
Have a nice day. Love, Tua.
Does this mean that people who do not keep His commands are dead? No—but yes. Or we can appropriately answer, yes—but no. Are you confused yet? Once again, we’re dealing with metaphors and the basic Bible-based worldview that sees REALITY as being composed of both physical (seen) and spiritual (unseen). So here’s the deal: Just because someone is physically alive does not necessarily mean they are spiritually alive, that is, living with a Spirit-activated motivation and commitment to please their Maker, being BORN AGAIN, which guarantees the benefit of ETERNAL LIFE. And just because someone is physically dead does not mean that that person has ceased to exist—or that they are not spiritually alive, more alive than they’ve ever been, enjoying the hard-to-comprehend status of ETERNAL LIFE.
Here’s some good insight along these lines as given by the Apostle Paul to believers at Corinth. Maybe I’ll add some comments of my own for clarification: “Therefore we do not lose heart (--we should not allow the problems we face in the physical world to discourage us at heart level). Though outwardly we are wasting away (--that’s just a plain clear fact that must be accepted—that we are all headed in the same direction of physical death and decay), yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day (--we have a wonderful renewal resource by means of our seeking God and living to please Him, along with the psychological and spiritual nourishment gleaned from eating/consuming His Word every day). For our light and momentary troubles (physical and emotional struggles) are achieving for us (--helping us to establish priorities) an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (--eternity is infinitely bigger and longer than anything in the realm of time). So we fix our eyes (--the eyes of our heart that see and manage our thoughts and values) not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary (physical), but what is unseen (spiritual) is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). Wow!
What in the world is “the apple of your eye”? As I try a GOOGLE search for the meaning this idiom, I learn it has origins in Bible literature (Deuteronomy 32:10, Lamentations 2:18, and Zechariah 2:8). The “apple” seems to indicate the pupil—a highly sensitive part of the body that is also highly guarded and protected since it is so essential to healthy vision. The expression has come to represent something or someone that is valued above all else.
OK—now it makes perfect sense. Let’s put it this way: GUARD AND PROTECT YOUR SPIRITUAL RENEWAL FROM GOD’S WORD AND RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM ABOVE ALL ELSE.
How many people do that?—or live that way? Not many. Those who don’t are “simple”—or simple-minded—not necessarily due to low IQ—but because they are simply not Spirit-activated so as to recognize and live according to ETERNAL values. Notice what it says in this chapter about the dude who is called “simple” in verse 7—and read on to see how he behaves and what happens to him because of that sad condition.
Question: Does this final quote relate to anything we’ve talked about above?