Sharper Than a Sword

The Holy Spirit uses the Word to accomplish God’s miracle in our life.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

 There have been some really great “aha” moments in my life. We cannot really describe those moments, but we have all experienced them. People in recovery from addictions can usually point to their “moment of clarity”. That is the point when somehow, at some definable time, they truly saw something that they had never seen before. Often, it was something that others had seen in them for some time, but it had been invisible to them until that moment.

One of my “aha” moments was when I read Ephesians 2:8-9. I had grown up Catholic, and Bible reading was not particularly encouraged on one’s own.  I had gone through nearly 16 years of Catholic education, was aware of Bible stories and had taken theology, etc. However, one day, when I was reading in Ephesians, I was struck dumb in reading “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

I had grown up in a works atmosphere, whereby one needed to do enough good in order to qualify for salvation. Even at that, one could not be totally sure of the outcome. I had been struggling with my faith for a while, as most young people tend to do. It was during this questioning time that I read this passage. It was not the first time that I had read it. It was the first time that it penetrated my soul. I was sure at that time that this had never been in the Bible and was recently inserted just for my benefit. The Holy Spirit used this moment to capture my thinking and my heart. Shortly after that, I made the decision to trust Jesus and His work for my salvation – not my work or my dependence on the institutional church.

Truly, God’s word has the power of a sharp sword, able to cut out our former ways of thinking and to define ultimate truth. The Holy Spirit uses the Word to accomplish God’s miracle in our life – dependence on Him for the salvation of our souls and the motivation to work for the good of those around us.

By John Jung

From the book Reflections: a Look at God Working in Us