Sunday, August 9, 2020
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Rendering
Indeed, 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 God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of God to whom we must render an account.
The writer of Hebrews gives us here an understanding of the nature of God’s word. It is more than comforting and healing. It ignites a fire within that renders us to God. It gives understanding and wisdom. And it calls each of us to an accounting of our actions.
God says: I created each of you to share my happiness and goodness with me forever. I created the world around you so that you might have resources and companions to accompany you on your pilgrimage to me. I come to you through my creation and I instruct you through my word. I send Jesus to you each day as my Living Word. I know that it is difficult for you to follow his example of forgiving enemies and praying for our persecutors but still . . . I ask that you do this. For this is what I do. I pray continually for those who shut me out of their lives or worse . . . those who slander me and say that I do not exist. I send you my Spirit to console, to heal, to encourage, to enlighten, to counsel and to teach. These teachings are sometimes hard . . . but this is the nature of my Word. It comes to light a fire in your soul, to soften stiff necks and to melt cold hearts. It also comes to nurture, to restore and to rescue all from any enticement that draws you away from me. When I ask for accounting of you this is what I ask: do you enact my Word with justice and mercy; do you love me before all others; and do you forgive those who visit calamity upon you?
“God’s speech is compared with a sword that can pierce the innermost depths of the human person (v.12). That piercing has a discerning or judgmental function and the note of judgment is reemphasized as the imagery shifts (v. 13). Before God’s word noting is hidden, but all is ‘naked and laid bare’.” (Mays 1153) here is no point in keeping secrets from God as God knows and sees all. Yesterday we reflected on how we might cleave to God – separate ourselves or unite ourselves. Today let us spend time thinking about how and what we render to God. Do we withhold a tiny, small and secret part of ourselves? Or do we render our whole self – body, soul and spirit?
To render: 1) to melt down, to extract by melting, to purify; 2) to transmit to another, to deliver, to give up or yield, to hand over for consideration or hand down as a legal judgment, to agree and report on as in a verdict; 3) to give in return or retribution, to give back or restore, to do a service for another; 4) to cause or to become; 5) to administer; 6) to give recompense.
What and how do we render ourselves to God?
Mays, James L., ed. HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE COMMENTARY. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988. 1153. Print.
Image from: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-fire-made-of-607313
Definition from Merriam-Webster Online: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/render
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