Hebrews 4:12 English Standard Version (ESV) For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

We left of yesterday with John’s proclamation that Jesus Christ is the Word. Now we come to this issue in Hebrews which tells us that the Word is living and active. We have gone over passages about hiding the Word in our hearts.

Psalm 119:11 English Standard Version (ESV) I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

The majority of passages related to the word and the heart are contained in the Old Testament. That is man’s effort to help himself. Christ had not come, lived, died and been resurrected during those days. The relationship between the written word and the heart was literary education, understanding, and human effort.

Now that we live after the cross and have accepted Christ by faith, we take Him, the Word Himself, into our hearts. It is no longer a matter of human effort alone. We have been given the Holy Spirit in order to keep the truth, the Word, alive and active in our hearts. He is the one who is able to divide those parts of us that we were unable to do without His help.

There is a difference between soul and spirit. We did not know that as we do now. Joint and marrow are two different aspects of our ability to move and where life blood is renewed. There is a difference between our actions and our lives. They are not the same thing.

The last and most important is the issue of thoughts and intentions of the heart. Our thoughts are easily influenced by everything earthly and fleshly. The heart belongs to Christ and is not influenced by anything that is of the world. It is the mind that has to be transitioned from self-talk to listening to the heart that belongs to Christ.

It is more than a matter of reading and believing as we did in our old lives. It is a matter of living by faith.