Luke 12:4-5 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. (5) But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
As humans, we spend a lot of time taking care of or protecting our physical well-being. We go to doctors and hospitals when we are sick. We exercise to build strength, stamina and endurance. Some of us are careful what we eat to ensure a healthy diet. We could go on and on making this point.
In our text today, Jesus is not diminishing the importance of our physical well being, he is simply emphasizing the priority of the spiritual aspect of man over the physical. If we go to such great lengths to care for our physical portion of man, we should spend some time, effort and energy fortifying and caring for our spiritual.
Jesus said that we have no need to fear those that kill the physical body but rather fear is justified when those that have the capability to kill both the physical body and the spiritual soul. Jesus states in verse 4 that if a person only has the power of killing the physical, there is no other harm they can bring on us. Dead is dead, no matter how you slice it. But spiritual death is a far worse thing because it is eternal.
So how can someone kill the soul? When we allow them to influence us and take us down a path that leads us away from God.
Romans 8:35-39 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 thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that 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 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is comforting to know that no one can separate us from God, but people can keep us from finding God or influence us to choose to rebel against him. Those are the ones that we must learn to recognize in our lives and separate from. Instead we need to continually surround ourselves with those that will help us be the people that God wants us to be.
Reflecting His SON,
Dennis Hogan
Minister, North Hardin Church of Christ
1804 Sam Stewart Dr.
Radcliff, KY 40160
Questions, comments or further explanation? Contact me at: dennis.hogan@icloud.com
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