12 because God’s word is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates to the point that it separates the soul from the spirit and the joints from the marrow. It’s able to judge the heart’s thoughts and intentions.
Reflection
My father was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia back in 2016, and because of that, I’ve learned far more about blood, bone marrow, and cancer than I ever had any interest in knowing. Much of it makes me queasy, I’m always the person counting ceiling tiles when getting blood drawn, but some of it has been quite fascinating (for the record, my father is doing quite well with his treatments). For example, I’ve learned that bone marrow donation is not nearly as scary as many have made it out to be (which is why I highly encourage anyone who’s eligible to get on a bone marrow donor list – you could save a life!) but I’ve also learned that when receiving a bone marrow donation, your blood type can change. Literally. I’m talking, you’ve been A- your whole life and now you’re O+. This is because the majority of red blood cells develop in the bone marrow. It’s not instantaneous, it can take about a year, but if your donor is a different blood type than you, your blood type will change.
It’s not every day that Scripture talks about one’s marrow. It’s a bold and specific choice. In today’s text, God’s Word is being described, not as something we read but something in the present tense that we experience. Vivid imagery is used to describe just how precisely, how delicately, how intricately God’s Word can separate two things that seem to always be together: the soul and the spirit, and the joints with the marrow. Can a soul live without the spirit? The spirit without the soul? What purpose does something like a bodies joint have if the bones it hinges together are without marrow? Absolutely none. That’s how powerful God’s Word can be in our lives. It can give us a bone marrow transplant. It can change the very thing that courses through our veins, it can create in us a whole new self.
by Rachel Callender
For Pondering & Prayer
How do you experience God’s Word off the page? In what ways does it come
Prayer: Holy Lord, transform our very cells with your Word today. May it come alive! Amen.
Friends, if you’re reading this on Tuesday morning, I hope you’ll tune into the Livestream of my ordination today at 11AM EST: 23rd Annual Conference Session | May 24, 2022 – YouTube
Comments are closed.