I am grateful for the learning opportunities given during the 2026 annual convention of the Iowa Honey Producers Association.
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
Luke 14:26
28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
Exodus 20:12
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 6:33
Me: Good morning, Father!
Abba: Good morning, Jon!
Me: Did Jesus’ hearers understand His statement about whom one must “hate” to be His disciple?
Abba: If they wanted to understand they would have realized He was making an emphatic statement that one’s relationship with Me must come first. You know that truly loving others requires My love operating through you.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
John 15:5
23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Galatians 5
Do you see that the fruit of the Spirit is essential to good relationships? Love is the first thing in the list. There were some who did not understand what Jesus was saying in the day He said it. But today, the Spirit does guide into all the truth (John 16:13). Following Me does not lessen love for others. Following Me makes it possible.
I am grateful to have those mirrors up in the exercise room (previous post). Knowing that I was long procrastinating on doing that work has been nagging in the background. I am grateful for You showing me how to handle them successfully.
But many who are first will be last and the last first.
Mark 10:31
Me: Good morning, Father!
Abba: Good morning, Jon!
Me: Would you tell me what Jesus was saying in Mark 10:31? This comes after the story of the “rich young ruler” who went away downcast, and then Jesus talked with His disciples about the difficulty of saving the rich.
Abba: Consider the context. The rich can be considered those who are “first” in position, authority, influence, responsibility, and so on. Why are they last in finding a relationship with Me? Because following Me requires putting me first instead.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 6:23
There is a place to operate in authority, influence, and responsibility. Properly, these things are added by Me to the one who is wholly given to Me for My own purposes. Otherwise, they will block finding a vital relationship with me. The one who is seeking these things on his own is serving those things and his own desires.
Contrary to that, there is this that David found:
Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Psalms 37:4
Read that to mean I will fill your heart with My desires.
“Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Luke 12:6-7
Me: Good afternoon, Father!
Abba: Good afternoon, Jon!
Me: The idea of the surveillance state with enough cameras and data centers to store everything about everyone is of great concern. But having You know every detail is a great comfort, for Your very nature is love and no injustice ever proceeds from you!
Abba: Yes, and I should have proven my forgiveness to you:
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Romans 8
Me: I am always awed at Your forgiveness and such great cost to Yourself!
Yet on the government surveillance front, there is this, which I seem to continually struggle with:
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Romans 13
History is littered with tyrannical regimes which favored one group over others, even to carrying out genocide. It seems AI powered identification of everyone is risky business. I believe it is against the spirit of the fourth amendment to the Constitution for unreasonable searches. What could be more intrusive than monitoring everywhere you go and every thing you buy and everyone you associate with?
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
Revelation 13
This passage in Revelation speaks of a “beast” who is numbered (counted?) as a man with authority to prevent the commerce that is necessary to daily life unless he receives the worship that is due only to You. So, to me, it seems the building of the surveillance state is laying the groundwork for man carrying out the purposes of Satan.
Abba: Verse 14 says, “And he deceives”. That means, as is his usual restraint (from Me) his plans must be accepted by the ones implementing them. This usually happens because they think there is something in it for their own purposes.
Me: We see many signs of injustice already. I am thinking of tax money being used to subsidize abortion providers under the heading of “health care”. The courts used to attack those who provide energy to run transportation and the economy, because the existing laws don’t agree with the plaintiff’s position. On and on it goes.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Birkenau Auschwitz Concentration Camp
How do we properly address these things? I no longer have any confidence in elections to improve things. Surely, not over the long term (if there is a long term).
Abba: These are valid concerns. I would not deny that they are. However, considering these things, read Romans 8 in its entirety and take it to heart.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8
To the end, the hairs on your head will not cease to be numbered by Me.
Me: Thank You Father for that comforting perspective! I love You! Your will be done!
I am grateful for the unseen, that things eternal are spiritual and out of the perception of human eye, but will not always be so. [2 Corinthians 4:18, 1 Corinthians 13:12]
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
Me: Good morning, Father!
Abba: Good morning, Jon!
Have you considered why you have a sense of gratitude about the obscurity of the unseen? Do not think that it originates within you. I tell you plainly that it is My heart to hide the mysteries of glory from the eye of natural man.
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:5
Nor was that wickedness eliminated by the flood.
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
John 8:44
You only need to look at daily news items to see his activity in the hearts of men.
But I AM your redeemer. Consider John’s description of Jesus:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 1:1-5
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14
Have you observed a lack of discernment? I AM sure that you have!
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14:6
The spiritual realm above is safe from the machinations of corrupt man, but open before those who are in Jesus; to those who love Me, who are a new creation.
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
John 16:12-15
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.
Proverbs 29:2
As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:10-20, [Ps. 14:3, 53:3]
Me: Good morning, Father!
Abba: Good morning, Jon!
Me: Yesterday, as You know, of course, we listened to many speeches as various ones in authority exclaimed how wonderful our experience has been under their administration. I kept thinking they must be hoping their revisionist history would be accepted as gospel. Indeed, most of the ones in attendance (delegates to the political party state convention) seemed perfectly willing to applaud what was said as though it was as true as if You had uttered it with Your own mouth. With the primary election behind us, some of those talking were new candidates who had no demonstrable history in political office.
Abba: You know the tendency to read into things what one wishes to hear. It is a fundamental reality exploited by shrewd salesmen. You have also learned as an engineer that pointing out likely misrepresentations contained in a sales pitch will get you labeled as a negative naysayer. Predictions coming from long experience will be completely forgotten or ignored if you are proved right and they come to pass, just as you said. You also know the desire to say, “I told you so!” will almost always backfire on the prophet. People don’t wish to have their misjudgments brought to light when the entire cost becomes apparent.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
[One partial definition of unclean lips is speaking to elevate self and tear down others.]
See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:25-29
Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
James 3:5-6
Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”
So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”
Matthew 15: 7-11, 16-20
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9
[But God has a plan of salvation:]
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Me: Thank You Father! I love You! I pray you will help me be a voice of truth and circumspect about what to speak, and when!
Abba: You are welcome! I love you! Listen to My Holy Spirit in your heart. I have promised to give you what you need in the hour you need it.
I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes forever, to the very end. I hate the double-minded, but I love Your law. You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word.
Psalm 119:112-114
I am grateful that we have the Holy Spirit to guide us into truth!
For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James 1:7-8
I haven’t heard the Burger King® jingle “Have it Your Way”, of late – probably because I avoid the conduits of communication where I might be thus accosted – but I believe it was registered as a trademark in the 1970s, during the decade of my graduation from high school and military service. Nonetheless, it seems to have stuck in my brain… scary as that is.
It came to mind when I was considering the lament of God to Isaiah about the people’s hardness of heart. God told Isaiah to address their attitude, lest it go unchallenged. Jesus quoted from that very passage in Mathew when the disciples asked Him about His teaching style.
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah [6:9–10] is fulfilled, which says:
‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;
17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Matthew 13:10-17 (NKJV)
Did you see what attentive hearing with hearts of understanding would bring? Repentance and resultant healing! The “turning” that Isaiah and Jesus spoke of is under our control. Having once granted us autonomy over our own decisions, God does not violate them while we still breathe the air of earth. There are often negative consequences, to be sure. I have endured many of these myself. But such repercussions are really signposts of mercy; glaring evidence we are on a degenerating path, descending to a dreadful terminus. Turn around!
The Apostle Paul had some heartfelt things to say on this subject as well:
1 For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,
2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.
5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
Colossians 2:1-10 (NKJV)
God is the source of “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”. What is left if one rejects the source of wisdom and knowledge?
What is left is human “philosophy and empty deceit”. Often what is left is delivered passionately with words that can persuade those who are not intimate with God and His word. But look where that is going:
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (NKJV)
Because God really does allow you to “have it your way” and as the rulers of this age, not even realizing it, are “coming to nothing”. Do not go with them. Neither lean on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). Set your heart on Him. Let Him direct your paths!
I am grateful to have the new pegboards for the shop constructed and up!
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
— Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Me: Good morning, Father!
Abba: Good morning, Jon!
Me: This made me think of the adjective wholehearted. When I look at the definition, I find:
1. completely and sincerely, determined or enthusiastic 2. marked by complete earnest commitment; free from all reserve or hesitation.
That said, the verse in Deuteronomy 6 indicates that is not all; more than heart is concerned. I have envisioned the heart to contain the soul (reason/mind, emotions, will, conscience, self-awareness, faith/unbelief, etc.). Does this passage in Deuteronomy 6 negate that concept? I have based my thinking about this matter on many passages.
“who has also placed his seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee”
2 Corinthians 1:22
— And as other examples:
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.
Psalm 139:23
And
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12
Abba: I want you to think about this passage in Romans 1, and how the soul affects the heart and how the heart affects the body. And, how some make a habit out of serving the body and its senses. As you know, that gets to be an accelerating vicious circle going to no good end.
Therefore, God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason, God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. Likewise, men abandoned natural relations with women and burned with lust for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, maliciousness. Gossips, slanderers, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful; inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, untrustworthy, heartless, unmerciful; who having known the righteous judgment of God, that those doing such things are worthy of death, not only are practicing them, but are also approving of those practicing them.
— Romans 1:24-32
Surely, you recognize this in action in your day, as it was in Paul’s.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45
The exhortation to love Me with all your heart and all your soul, and all your strength is not saying the soul is not contained in the heart. It emphasizes wholeheartedness, as you have already observed. Not everyone considers the soul a part of the heart simply because they have not considered it. By pointing out details, the text aims to get you to consider the trouble with holding back in any area of your relationship with Me.
David saw it:
Bless the Lord, O my soul! And all that is within me, bless His Holy Name.
— Psalm 103:1
So, “wholehearted” is a good word. An unreserved heart set on Me results in an unfettered soul and directs the body to good and powerful actions.
Me: Thank You, Father! I love You!
Abba: You are welcome! I love you!
Graphic depicting some aspects related to the mind, heart, and spirit.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
— Philippians 4:8-9
Me: Good morning, Father!
Abba: Good morning, Jon!
Me: All the things in the darkness in this world do not fit in this list
Abba: Yes, and many are cooperating to bring your attention to bear on them.
Lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.
— 2 Corinthians 2:11
This last passage tells you not to be ignorant of the darkness, but do not focus on it and give it more power than it is due.
But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.
— Matthew 10:33–36
Understand this: as the darkness progresses, it is all the more important for you to be strong there in the depths of your heart and mind and soul by focusing on things in the light as Philippians four says. You are called to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13–16). You cannot long maintain effectiveness unless you are filled with light by what you are occupied with. You need to be light so that those who will can see how to leave the darkness. There is a balance, but remember lessons from physics: the power is in the light and darkness is absent power. Knowing the things that are of Me will maintain your ability to be light, and it is surely needed.
Although the Jesus’ words captured in Matthew 10:33-36 speak specifically of one’s immediate family members, family members make up a community, and communities make up a state, and states make up a nation and nations make up the world. Those of the household of faith will one day be in alignment with Jesus’ prayer for unity (John 17:6-18). That day has not arrived yet and many are set against Jesus’ disciples. Even within the “household of faith” one is set against another. Do not be surprised. Jesus did not want you to be unaware.
I am grateful to have a place to work out of the cold, and to have the new custom baseboards stained and ready to install in the exercise room.
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10:11-13
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:13
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
James 1:13-15
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 4:15
Me: Good morning, Father!
Abba: Good morning, Jon!
Me: Thank You for leading me through these scriptures! I have long been puzzled by Jesus teaching us to pray, “lead us not into temptation” in light of some of the other passages.
Abba: Jesus was recognizing the need for His followers to not face temptation alone, whether internal or external, but to humbly rely on Me. 1 Corinthians 10 tells you that I will be faithful in answering that prayer.
Think about this: As James observes that “God cannot be tempted”, then if your actions and the very thoughts of your heart are yielded to the Holy Spirit, then where would sin, or even the temptation to sin abide? This is why there is an exhortation to not “quench” the Spirit!
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
See how this passage points to the depths of the heart; these are not intermittent activities: pray without ceasing, rejoice always, in everything give thanks, test all things, hold fast to what is good, abstain from every form of evil. These are only possible in a life wholly given to Me. We are not speaking of a divided purpose.
Again, James captured this.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James 1:2-8
Me: Thank You Father! I pray You will continue to help me grow in Your steadfastness and the purposes of Your heart. I love You!
I am grateful to have the internet link working in the new (remote) library/office space.
Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived [some translations say “outwitted”, & KJV has it “mocked”] by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
“A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more.”
Matthew 2:16-18, parenthetical comment mine
Me: Good evening, Jesus!
Jesus: Good evening, Jon!
Me: Herod did not seem to care at all about the prophecy that said You were the Messiah. He only seemed to be driven by myopic self interest. I have long been puzzled by this passage, which seems to say Herod’s wrath was against “deception” by the Magi.
Jesus: The word is ἐνεπαίχθη (enepaichthē). It has the same root as the word used to describe the Roman soldiers mocking (ἐνέπαιξαν, enepaixan ) Me prior to my crucifixion. You might better understand its use if it was rendered “defied”. Why was Herod so angry that the Magi had defied his direction? Because it delayed his murderous intent. Understand that attitude is Satan’s (John 10:10). Herod thought he was directing his own affairs, but his attitude in fact made him fully yield to the destroyer. Herod was an unwitting tool of hell. The historical record, outside the scriptures, leaves no doubt of the many that he had killed if his paranoid heart thought there was a hint of challenge to him. He was not even a good servant of the devil. His self-serving was so extreme that he was incapable of listening well, even to Satan’s deceptions. Though Herod was a client king subject to Roman interests, it simply never occurred to him that though I was born in Bethlehem and thus fulfilled the prophecy by Micah, that we were not permanent residents of Bethlehem, only being there temporarily because of the Roman census. (Luke 2:39)
The large caravan of the Magi could not be hidden. Eventually, Herod would learn where the star had guided them instead of to Bethlehem (contrary to popular tradition). Neighbors fearful of Herod, would have revealed the house they had entered. This is the reason that Joseph was warned to flee with My mother and Me.
Me: My wife and I wondered if Herod’s killing of children extended to Nazareth after Your family fled to Egypt. What does “all its districts” mean for a small village like Bethlehem?
Jesus: Nazareth was many day’s journey from Bethlehem. Herod murdered many, including in his own family, lest a son come to lay claim to his throne. But, in this case, the house entered by the Magi was specifically identified, unlike the more open question of which of the infants in Bethlehem were of the age indicated by the appearance of the star to the Magi. The villagers of Nazareth could all testify that Joseph had fled with Me.
On our return, Galilee was more under control of the Romans and Joseph was more comfortable returning home than he would have been in Judea.
Me: Thank You Jesus! I love You!
Jesus: You are welcome! I love you!
Notes:
Galilee is somewhat isolated from Judea by the distance through Samaria.
The phrase “It is better to be Herod’s pig than his son” is a well-known quote attributed to Emperor Augustus, reflecting the extreme paranoia and ruthlessness of Herod the Great, who ruled Judea as a client king under Roman authority.
The statement is recorded in the Saturnalia of Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, a Roman writer from the early 5th century CE, who compiled a collection of conversations from the late 4th century.
According to Macrobius, Augustus made the remark upon hearing that Herod had ordered the execution of all male children under the age of two in the region of Syria, an event known as the Slaughter of the Innocents, which is described in the Gospel of Matthew.
The irony of the quote lies in the Greek homonymy between “pig” (hys) and “son” (huios), both of which sound similar in Greek.
Since Herod was a Jew and observed Jewish dietary laws, he would not have eaten pork, making his pig safe from execution. In contrast, Herod had a history of killing members of his own family, including three of his sons—Antipater, Alexander, and Aristobulus—whom he suspected of plotting against him.
Antipater, his firstborn son and heir, was executed just five days before Herod’s own death in 4 BC.
