I hope your week went well! We had a very enjoyable and productive week. Even while on vacation! It was a week of disconnecting for me, personally. I disconnected from the world the overwhelming majority of the time, however as we traveled back home today and I reflected on the week I realized something. Despite disconnecting from the world on a macro level, I neglected to devote hardly any time to my relationship with Yehovah.
We were out in the woods, I was working outside on a project for the majority of the week, and I got so focused on it and completing in the limited amount of time I had that I did not take time time to study His word and build my relationship with Him. Looking back, that is a regret I have, but I will take it as a lesson going forward. Things sound good, like disconnecting, but if we don't put the thought or effort into making the most of it spiritually, we essentially gain nothing.
I mostly completed my project (to about 95%, I estimate), but that project will inevitably decay and disintegrate, eventually being reclaimed by the world through natural processes. Our souls however, are eternal so long as we decide, essentially. What I mean by that is only God can destroy our soul (Matthew 10:28), so if we decide to be obedient to Him and following His commandments, His mercy and grace spares our souls from the death that is the inevitable result of our sin (Ephesians 2:2-8, Romans 6:23).
If we decide to turn away from Yehovah's gift of eternal life, we will experience that destruction of our soul in Gehenna that Jesus spoke of. The word translated to destroy in that verse is apollumi, which is not just destruction but utter destruction. A cutting off entirely and permanently, not just a temporary situation.
So neglecting to focus on the thing that will last eternally is foolish, to say the least. That's not to say the only reason we should grow our relationship with God is due to self-preservation. I find that when I focus on my relationship with Him I feel significantly more fulfilled than when I complete physical projects. So it's about being fulfilled, more than self-preservation.
The other aspect that came to mind as I was reflecting on this past week was the unfathomable beauty, intricacy, and complexity of this world. It took this reflection for me to admire what I had been working in all week. Continuous fighting against red wasps to prevent being stung while I worked, and trying to make sure I was efficient and able to meet my project deadline, kept me distracted from taking the time to notice the things around me and appreciate them.
To me, and possibly to you, the complexity and beauty found in nature is clear evidence of His hand in the creation of all we see. I look at non-believers and can't comprehend the inability for them to see it. Claiming to be wise and understand how everything works and how we (humans) got here, they make themselves fools (Romans 1:22) by ignoring, or worse, denying, the Creator.
Interestingly, the word translated to fool in Romans 1:22 is moraino, which Strong's says means "to be foolish." However, when you take a look at the usage of this word in scripture, one of the uses is to mean tasteless, as in salt being made useless. It also comes from the word moros, which is the root of our word moron, or moronic. HELPS Word-studies describes this as, "lacking a grip on reality (acting as though 'brainless')."
Moraino is the same word used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:20 where he talks about God making the wisdom of this world foolish. It's also the same word used by Jesus when talking about salt losing its flavor (Matthew 5:13, Luke 14:34). To me, this associates being tainted by the world with losing flavor as believers. These are the only places in scripture where this word is found.
We looked at salt back in February, and found that the salt of the Dead Sea has additional compounds that could cause it to lose flavor if their percentages were great enough. We determined that the salt flavor itself could be faith, and based on this connection with the word moraino, the conclusion we came to on the additional compounds being worldly influences is confirmed.
The foolishness of ignoring or denying Yehovah's involvement in our presence here and what we see all around us, despite the evidence, is one of the things that causes us to lose our flavor. If we, as believers, deny God as the Creator we are useless, just like flavorless salt. We are useless to Him as being a light to the world (Matthew 5:14-16). I mean, if we believe the same as a non-believer, what does that say about our God? That He isn't even powerful enough to create?
Now, you may say that's a bit extreme, to say that a believer could deny God as Creator, but what's the difference between that and believing He created the universe with a big bang? What's the difference between that and believing He created the universe over millenia vice the six day creation account in Genesis? These are examples of worldly beliefs influencing our lives and causing us to lose flavor.
There is evidence of worldly beliefs influencing believers all over the place, and it seems to be becoming more and more prominent. Denial of demonic influences and the power of witchcraft, compromise on Yehovah's expectations and commandments for our lives; the mainstream Christianity we see today is very flavorless. In fact, it's gotten so bad you regularly see pastors, priests and preachers getting arrested and charged with pedophilia, having in appropriate relationships, or even being deceitful with things like what they use offerings and donations for.
Take time this week to take note of God's creation and check to make sure you haven't lost any flavor by adding worldly beliefs into your life. Also, be very careful about who you follow, take spiritual advice from, or listen to for help in scriptural interpretation. You don't know how far the worldly influences have permeated the things they believe or things they say. We are to be wise as serpents, so keep that in mind! (Matthew 10:16)
Shabbat shalom and God bless you!
-Rob and Sara Gene
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