Thursday, February 4, 2016

What Knits Us Together?

I woke up with parts of this verse in my mind.

"Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God." - Colossians 2:18-19 ESV

Being knit together.

This verse says that being knit is more important than having a spiritual experience. Spiritual experiences can set us apart at times because one person has it but the others do not.

"And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them." - Mark 9:2 KJV

Jesus brought these three men up on the mountain together to see something that would knit them together. I am wary of spiritual experiences that set people apart because God gives them (in part) to bring people together.

Have you ever done a 'word study'? It is when you take a word and look up every occurrence of that word in the scriptures. Often more than one word in Greek and Hebrew are translated into the word you are studying so then you look up the Hebrew and Greek words and see where they are used.

The Hebrew word Chaber (Strong's H2270) is translated 'knit' here...

"So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man." - Judges 20:11 KJV

In most other cases it is translated 'companion'.

Qashar (Strong's H7194) is also translated as 'knit', 'bind' or 'conspire.'

"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes." - Deuteronomy 6:6-8 KJV

What a great passage! As you bind your mind to the word of God it is knitting your family together. We meditate and then we share what God gives us with our children as we drive them to school or put a meal in front of them.

This isn't a 'I saw an angel.' experience. It is a shared experience where intimacy is created.

The Greek word used in the passage that opened up this devotional is Symbibazo (Strong's G4822). A it is translated as 'held together' in the following passage...

"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV

Yes. A word study can be edifying. It's not hard to do once you learn how.

It takes us down surprising roads. We can find hidden treasures in those places. Then we can share those treasures with people. God begins to knit different parts of the Bible into our experience and then uses those words to knit people together in understanding.

'I had a dream' is a subjective experience. Subjective experience are wonderful because they are personal. But the word gives us an objective experience and objectivity is so needed. When we have that a group is edified and a group that is edified is a powerful force.

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1 comment:

  1. Here is a link to a tool that makes doing word studies online much easier.

    https://www.blueletterbible.org/

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