Life Is Messy

(1 Thes 5:23, John 16:33, Galatians 5:25)

Life is messy. Every day huge messes interrupt our lives and we do our best to deal with them, but life is messy.

I guess, for me, the next logical question would be, “what is life?”

Well, it should be no surprise at this point that when I try to figure this stuff out I first search it out through the Bible. So what does the Bible have to say about “life”?

The first time we see the word ‘life’ (in the KJV, at least) in the Bible is in Genesis 1:20: “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” Now, admittedly, most other translations will translate the original Hebrew words as ‘living creatures’, but I think the KJV translation will work in this instance because living creatures really are life. But let’s dig a little deeper…

What is the Hebrew word in this verse which is translated as ‘life’? Interestingly, there are actually two words in that verse which are added together to be translated into that one word. Two words, you say? Yep, even defining ‘life’, it appears, is going to be a bit messy. The two words which make up ‘life’, or ‘living creatures’ are ‘nephesh’ (H5315) and ‘chay’ (H2416). I’m not going to list out the entire definitions to these (though, I’ve provided the Strong’s reference numbers [or you could use the Brown-Driver-Briggs, if you want to get a little better understanding of the words] if you want to look them up); I’m going to do my best to give a concise paraphrase.

Nephesh: Breathing creature or vitality. This is the soul.

Chay: Beast or living thing. We’ll call this ‘a body’.

This actually is a really cool pair of words for us to use. You can’t have ‘life’ without a soul, but you can’t have ‘life’ on God’s green earth without a body. Life is a body and a soul. But it goes deeper than this. Yes, man has a body and a soul, but man also has a spirit. Now this can get into some pretty deep theological territory, but I think we can sidestep the whole concept of properly aligning our body, soul and spirit (although, if you would like to look into this, you’re in for an amazing time) and we’ll keep it on a more personally applicable tone. You can’t have life without the spirit.

Or, more accurately, you can’t have life without the Spirit.

There have been enough moments in my life that have felt like life was spinning out of control. In hindsight I can say that these have been times where I’ve focused too much on my body or my soul, and not my spirit.

I guess what I’m getting at is that life in control (not spinning out of control) is life lived focused on the spirit. And your spirit is how you are connected to the Holy Spirit of the Living God.

Now, I don’t want to promote the idea that if you’re “right” with God then you’re never going to get depressed, or anything like that. In fact, the Bible explicitly tells you that you’re going to have trials and tribulations. But the best way to live “life” is to stay “in the Spirit”. I know, the Christianese can get confusing (or, at least, annoying). But if the spirit is the part of ourselves that makes us more than breath and a skin-bag of bones and guts, it only makes sense that this is the part of ourselves that we should be focusing on when we’re trying to make life better, right?

So when life starts to get messy, take a step back and put a little focus on your spirit life. Life may not get less complicated but it’ll get a whole lot less messy.

The Insanity of Stubbornness

Bible Verses: Jeremiah 29:11, Proverbs 3:5-6, Matthew 6:26-30

The last week or so has been pretty difficult. It’s been a time of contemplation, and of resolve. Resolve. I guess sometimes we can confuse stubbornness for resolve, and we need to be able to discern between the two.

When does resolve turn into being stubborn? Is there even a difference?

Maybe I should take a minute to give my distinction. And then, if I’m wrong, somebody can resolve to tell me so and I’ll stubbornly tell them that they’re wrong.

To be stubborn, in my mind, you have to have an extra special kind of dumb. That’s not to say that I’ve never been stubborn (I’ve never claimed to not have extra-special dumbness), but it’s not an attribute that I enjoy, or intend to pursue. Stubbornness is kind of like being insane. There’s a quote which is often attributed to Albert Einstein (or Benjamin Franklin, or Mark Twain) that goes like this, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Or, something like that. None of the people listed above probably ever said this, and we can debate until the cows come how if “insanity” is a term we should be using (really, where do these cows go that they’re getting home at such a late hour…), but I think that we can agree that this quote pretty much perfectly describes “stubbornness.” Stubbornness is doing the same thing over and over because you know you’re right and expecting something to be different this time because it’s the only way you know to go about things.

So what makes resolve any different? When you have resolve, you have an outcome in mind and you fight to get to that outcome. But, when you go about getting to the desired result in a way which doesn’t work, you change up what you’re doing the next time you try. Why? Because you have resolve and you want to accomplish your mission!

So what does this all mean? God has a plan for our lives (Jer 29:11) and you can keep trying to figure out your own way to get there, even when it’s obviously not working (stubbornness), but God has resolve and He is willing to wait through our stubbornness, placing things in our path which eventually lead us down the path which He had originally intended, so that we can eventually get to His intended outcome for our lives. Was that a little too neat and tidy? Too bad, because I was told that cleanliness is next to Godliness. Actually, that’s another quote which I’m not so sure of who it should be attributed to so maybe I’ll talk about that one some other time…

But, the key lesson here, is to seek your path through God’s word (Prov 3:5-6). Don’t over think all of it (Mat 6:26-30). Trust in Yahweh and His omniscient ability to get you where you’re supposed to be, and you will get there.

I know, easier said than done, but I may as well give it a try, at least…

For I know the plans that I am planning concerning you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘plans for prosperity and not for harm to give to you a future and a hope.’ (Jer 29:11 LEB)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Pro 3:5-6 NKJV)

Look at the birds of the sky: They don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't He do much more for you -- you of little faith? (Mat 6:26-30 HCSB)