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17 Comfort [parakaleo] your [humon] hearts, [kardia] and [kai]stablish[sterizo] you [humas] in [en] every [pas] good [agathos] word [logos] and [kai] work. [ergon]KJV-Interlinear
17 comfort and strengthen your
hearts in every good work and word. NASB
Comfort, parakaleo, means to be invoked, to be generated, to be caused by something.Comfort is the state of relaxed security or confidence, wherein there is
no threat, no worry, no uncertainty regarding ones
status.And in our context, that status
is referring to the confidence in ones spiritual life and eternal future.
Heart, kardia, is the reference to your physical heart, but
symbolic of its function as a circulating organ. The heart pumps the blood
through your body, thus sending the body its needed nourishment, defense
mechanisms, cleansing functions and so forth.The analogy here is to the soul, and the circulation of bible doctrine
(logos) within your soul, sending and serving the soul in its needed
nourishment, and edification.
Stablish, sterizo, means to
build upon an unmovable foundation, to confirm, to set fast, to turn resolutely
in a certain and known direction, to strengthen.
Good, agathos, refers to that which is of high quality,
superior, that of intrinsic value.Intrinsic means to possess an attribute which will never change
regardless of its state.Gold for
example has intrinsic value.It will
always be in demand, always be sought after, regardless of the situation.
And the only thing that
possesses the highest of value, which has been around for all time since
eternity past, and will never vanish, is Bible Doctrine, logos, the Word of
God, the content of the scriptures.
Work, ergon, means production, but not just any production.This is the production which results out from
the previous noun, logos, or the content of the scriptures.
Therefore we have the
conclusion of this chapter.
You were born into a
world of discomfort.That discomfort originates
from the power in the world, which rules the world, namely Satan.
When we studied Job, we
saw how Satan or the devil gets his name by way of his accusations, and
assertions, by his complaints, adversarial, and antagonistic approach toward
God, by using man as his pawns.We have
also seen how all evil originated from Satan, and how nothing but lies come from him.
This is the state of
the world today and has always been.Now, none of us will ever see the devil.We will only see the activities and results of the patterns of evil,
which he started long ago.Indifferent
man doesn t need much help when it comes to promoting evil, in society and
history.Just look around you.There are plenty of examples in the world.
Without truth in your
life, there is no hope.If you choose to
abide by the rules of the world, then you have chosen to subscribe to
lies.In lies, there is no foundation,
no reality, no future.
And in that respect,
non-Christians, indifferent Christians, anyone who rejects or otherwise is
apathetic toward Christianity and the principles taught by Christianity, will
live a life of fear, frustration, anxiety, and hate.They have no promise.They have no future.They will ultimately live in fear, and their
rage is, or will be, their only expression of their lack of substance in life.
But, for Christians who
are positive, and dedicated to their daily studies of the scriptures, then
developed within them is the Word of God, logos. Which is designed to
circulate through your soul, to build you up, and to make your life and purpose
complete.
What does that
mean?The circulation is the thinking,
the memory, the activity of your brain as it were, but your soul is the real
residence of your knowledge not your brain.Remember that the spiritual (your soul) is separate and apart from your
brain (the biological).There is a link
in there somewhere between the two, but that link has evaded discovery by
modern medicine and will never be discovered.The physical is incapable of detecting the spiritual.
Learning Bible
doctrine, thinking it, pondering it, utilizing it in your daily life, builds a
structure within your soul, which establishes, strengthen, builds up on a
strong foundation within you, which no one and nothing, can ever remove.
The strength is
supported by the power of God, over which there is no greater power.That knowledge,
produces maturity, and that maturity produces confidence, contentment,
security, and ultimately an inner happiness and relaxed state of mind, that you
cannot ever accomplish by any other means from this world.
The world will swirl
around you in its panic and tantrum, but with Bible doctrine in your soul, you
can become immoveable in your spiritual life.
We have two members of
our family, a son-in-law and his brother, who are right now stationed in Iraq
and Afghanistan.We are anxiously
awaiting their return, on leave, in just a couple of weeks.But I tell them just as I will share with
you, the story of Elisha from 2 Kg. 6.
There are a lot of
bullets that will be fired in your direction.Whether you are in a real shooting war, or whether your war is with
gossips, poverty, health issues, or any one of a million other problems that
are common to humanity.None of them will
ever touch you, unless God grants them permission.God is just that powerful.
Elisha found himself in
a situation where the city was surrounded by a military force, but Elisha
prayed for eyes to be opened in order for others (that now applies to you) to
see the real participants in any battle.Angels outnumbered the enemy forces.So, that means that any arrow, any attack could not succeed to its
target unless allowed to.
Have you ever seen any
of the many history documentaries of past wars, and wondered just why beach
invasions did not go far worse than they could have, or why the bullets of the
enemy don t seem to hit their targets, but ours (the good guys) seem to find
their mark?
Well that principle
applies in all aspects of life.God has
a plan for your life, abide by His plan and those bullets, those arrows, those
confrontations of life, will never touch you, at least not until God is ready
for you to go home to Him.
That does not mean that
you can be stupid and irresponsible.Its
intent is to give you confidence and security within yourself,
that God is going to look after you in a way that far exceeds anything
that you can do for yourself.
The only way that you
can rise to a level of absolute confidence in life, is
by means of advancing within your spiritual life to maturity.That does not happen overnight.It requires a commitment from you, to
doctrine, day after day, for every day of your life, no exceptions.
And when you pursue
doctrine with vigor, as a starving person would pursue a banquet of food set
before him, then your life will change in the course of time, and you will
eventually experience that which the rest of the world will never ever understand.
Your life, your
spiritual life, is between you and God.What people think is irrelevant.Their approval is irrelevant.No
one can offer you anything better than that which God has already made
provision for you.You just have to
fight the good fight, meaning confess your sins to God the Father and live in
fellowship, 1 John, study to advance to maturity, 2 Timothy.Apply the principles of doctrine to your life
for good production, James, and eventually win, (our
current verse).