The Sword You Choose

I have many stories of my old farmhouse and raising my children inside its walls. Living in an old home comes with charms. We have stained glass windows, a built-in buffet in our dining room, and old maple trees great for climbing in our yard.

While updating old windows after moving in, we ended up with scrap wood, some of which my husband used to fashion into a little sword for my son. It wasn’t dangerous, as it had a smooth, rounded end finished with a coat of varnish that would have been no match for a boogey man or monster lurking in a dark closet. But for a little guy, it was as fun as a cap gun was for a boy of an earlier generation. Being a cautious mom, I decided one day to confiscate the sword, hoping my son would focus on other toys. Of course, he soon realized that it was  missing. Not long after, I found a new one in his closet after he told his dad that he was missing the last one. This happened several times, and a collection of swords fashioned and then taken away was the outcome. Eventually, my son outgrew the fascination with wooden swords. Today, the swords and their constant replacements are a good laugh for our family.

Of course, no good parent would give a truly dangerous sword or any other weapon to a child. But God offers a sword to every one of His children—His Word. The words in scripture are described as sharper than a two-edged sword, alive and active and capable of changing a life:

For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.   Hebrews 4:12

This verse in Hebrews has a lot to it, teaching us that the Words of God are alive, they are powerful, they divide the unseen parts of a person, our deepest parts, and our thoughts and internal intentions are exposed. This can feel intimidating, but it is intended to keep us in a safe place, a place where God can reveal to us those things we may need to change in our lives, what we may need to repent of and turn from, and those things which we may be doing well. When it comes to swords–make yours the Word of God!