NT: Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 14

Epistle of Paul to the Romans, 14:1-23

14:1 These verses help us to interact with others through our respective spirituality's. If a person weak or new in faith asks for your support, you are supposed to welcome them. However, if someone who is doubtful and weak in faith but challenges you (unkindly) or argues with you, you do not have to engage with them on the subject. Believe what you believe and let your life reflect your beliefs, you do not have to prove your beliefs to opposition.

Even people with "small" or "weak" faith are important to God. Remember that spirituality is a journey and He respects every stage.

14:2-3 We do not need to argue or dispute over simple matters. Situations, ideas, expressions that are different but do not harm anyone do not need to be hammered out of someone's life or personality. Example: if they eat differently than you do. The bible suggests we do not eat pork (it's not a healthy meat). However arguing with someone or rejecting them because they like bacon is a fruitless argument (no pun intended). What really matters is a person's heart... yeah okay, eating bacon might have a negative side affect on their heart. What really matters is how much compassion someone has in their soul, not how much pork-carnita they have in their belly.

The bible suggests (for our health) that we do not eat pork, and yet on one of the biggest Christian holiday's there is, known incorrectly as "Easter" (different story for a different day) the main dish is ham! Ironically comical? Yes, but not a sin.

It's a silly example but this lesson can be applied to some many life circumstances. Culturally, humans are very diverse. As long as within that diversity are the value which uphold justice and compassion, the rest are nonessential, small details. God has allowed for freedom of expression so we should not judge a person for living out their God-given right. 

14:4 This metaphor is used to teach us that what is God's, is God's to handle. And we are God's: we are His children. Therefore, only He is authorized to discern what we are and do that's right or wrong. Moreover, He ensures that all of His children stand. When we work with Him, we never fall, we never fall short; any short-comings we might have He helps us to correct and triumph over.

14:5-6 Around the globe humans have declared different religions, spirituality, divinities and more. God wants you to respect them all (as long as a way of thought at its core promotes compassion and justice, it is to be respected.) Yes, some groups of people around the world are corrupt and they taint many religions reputations. We are not meant to condemn an entire group of people based on a few lunatics who pervert their way of life. Do not condemn an entire people and nation based on an organization of radicals.

God wants us to know that however a kind person wishes to communicate with Him, know Him, celebrate Him, He accepts and so should we. There are many differing avenues through which to reach Him. Destination: compassion; however we arrive there is respected by God. 

One person might fast to celebrate Him, wonderful. Another person might feast to celebrate Him, wonderful. We express ourselves differently but our emotions are the same.

14:7-8 God wants us to remember that at the end of the day, at the end of a life, we are all returning to Him. We are taking different trains but we came from the same station and we arrive at the same station. Just because a person seems incompatibly different to you does not mean that they are.

14:9 Jesus came, lived and died here, to emphasis our unity. These verses taught by Paul help us to grasp that truth. Jesus came to teach that God loved the people who were currently on earth, even the ones spiritually "dead" (un-awakened in faith) as well as the people who moved beyond this life. We are meant to give and foster that same love.

14:10 Paul genuinely asks: what is the point of differentiating yourself from another? You're siblings! The clothes might be different, the language spoken, the food eaten... all of it may be different but these bodies are made of the same materials and these souls are enlightened by the same Light. It's like hating your arm... you're essentially just hating a part of yourself.

14:11 Paul reminds of the scripture which teaches that all people, all humans, all souls are going to acknowledge the truth of their creator's existence. Moreover, all humans are going to be overwhelmed in complete, frank, honest, reverence to all that He, It is. We are going to be gathered together as a family before our creator and regardless of our superficial differences, our kinship will be undeniable. 

14:12 Each person will present themselves. Their true selves. Their core, their souls (and clothes and types of foods and spices and language spoken do not have any part of that). The heart and intention behind our actions represent who we are, not the type of hat we wear or type of building we worship in, if any.

14:13 Work together not against each other. Incorporate the good around you into your own life and pray that others will do the same. We all have so much to offer each other. Identify which aspects of who you are and how and what you believe can help another person in a respectful way. Realize that there are aspects of diverse culture and thought that can help you in a respectful way.

14:14 We can really jumble-up perfectly innocent things by making declarations that are ignorant of the truths of the situation, idea or belief. When humans are not being kind, they can make something good seem bad and Paul encourages us not to do this. 

14:15 It's a hateful action to make someone feel bad about their different, but still good beliefs just because we disagree with them.

14:16 When we walk around with a superiority complex, we taint our own faith. Our faith can only be maintained by our humility and our compassion. God and Jesus accept everyone, and if you follow them, you must follow the example otherwise you make a good thing bad through your hypocrisy and intolerance. 

14:17-18 Always remember and adhere to the core of God's philosophy. Do not make enemies or hurt anyone's feelings by worrying about inconsequential differences like what they eat or how they speak or what holidays they celebrate. God's focus is peace and joy and those are the most important traits we need to look for in a person, including ourselves.

14:19 Our purpose and intention on promoting and ensuring peace for everyone should supersede the minor details. 

 Do not derail from your good and compassionate purpose. Don't ruin a good thing. You are developing your faith, allow others the continue along their journeys as well. If you are not kind to all people equally, including yourself, you are not fulfilling your purpose, or making progress or contributing properly enough to make a gain on Good's side.

What is wrong, what is evil is when you paint someone's life as bad when they're only trying to do their best with what they have and with that they've been taught.

14:20-21 We are not supposed to step on, squash, sneer at or disrespect the different ways people express their spirituality. We are each entitled to our own thoughts on how to communicate with God, acknowledge God, celebrate God. 

14:22 Paul gives us this recommendation: Don't negate your faith or become a hypocrite. God has allowed people to express themselves and to be culturally diverse. He thinks diversity is beautiful and necessary. If you follow His philosophy, accept people they way He does.

14:23 Being rude to another person, not respecting their way of thought and life is not a sign of faith in God. Faith is an understanding that we are all one family. We are all of the same Tree: branching off in different directions and twists and knobs, but the same. Respect each other's beliefs and ways of expression.

NT: Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 13

Epistle of Paul to the Romans 13:1-14

13:1-2 Remember the time and context of Paul as he writes this letter to the Romans. Paul is teaching a new way of life, a new philosophy through which to live and understand life. The word of God that Paul brings is spiritually trans-formative, and simultaneously, Paul must be clear: he isn't preaching anarchy or abandonment of social order, rather he is trying to enhance the operation of social order.

Paul's reminder and also explanation is that God has given us the freedom to construct our own social systems while on earth. With that freedom, humans have made mistakes (corrupt leaders sometimes get elected or take power and it becomes our job to remove them.) Paul wants us to respect governments because even though they are sometimes corrupt, within them is humanity's potential to organize justice within populations of people. God wants us to respect and pursue the establishment of fair governments because He has appointed us with the ability to build them.

Our spiritually should not cause us to disrupt or disrespect government, rather it should help us to make government better. Meaning: stop the crusades of church versus state and let them work together. 

13:3 Paul reminds the recipients of his letter that he is not against rulers. Fair and wise rulers will always support and promote good works rather than hinder or tear them down. Paul does not want people to receive spirituality and the wreak havoc on their lives because they misuse it. Fair and wise rulers are meant to be a terror to evil actions, so while we shouldn't revere them, neither should we oppose them (again: if they're fair and wise). If they aren't, well, some countries are lucky enough to remove them from power in a systematic way. For those that are not, God supplies us with the courage and wisdom to work through our adversity and to remove terrors from our lives when we trust and ask Him to.

13:4 Ideally, humans in positions of governmental authority on earth are meant to restore, create and protect peace. Paul is explaining that even though we do not like things like punishments in law (contemporary example: tickets for speeding) we should not disrespect a system meant ensure safety.

13:5 Meaning: we should be good citizens. We should be good citizens not because we fear punishment but because it should be the naturally common sense, logical, just thing to do. Our conscience should desire to live as peaceably as we can.

13:6 There are aspects of government people hate, like taxes. In life, we constantly battle and work to balance things like taxes (that's fine and normal) but in general, we are meant to respect a system that has been created to ensure humanity's conditions of safety and justice.

13:7 We are meant to participate fairly in our society. We should work to establish and uphold just governments and then we should do our part to sustain them. Moreover, we should respect the cultural norms and traditions of the peoples and cultures around us. In general, we are meant to fairly respond to our environment, government and the populations around us.

13:8-9 In Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus explains that the most important thing we can do here on earth is to love each other. What does this mean? This means we should have empathy and respect for every human soul. Why? Because when we respect each other and have empathy for each other, we have covered every base of compassion and kindness. 

We owe each other this basic human right: to be valued for having life within us. The only thing we owe each other respect and empathy; this is the bare minimum of what we should give to others. We do not have to associate or agree with people we disagree with, we do not have to give anyone any material thing, any thing of ours except our understanding that they are alive and deserve to be given appreciated.

Special circumstances: there are some really crummy humans around sometimes, let's be honest. Having love for your enemy seems drastic and also unrealistic right? Well, there are different levels of love. At the top of the scale: our love for God is a deep form of love, reverence. Within the scale: the platonic love (but just as bold and true) for our family and friends and pets, our romantic love for spouses and partners, and our general appreciation (a quiet form of love) for acquaintances and strangers who we have empathy for. 

At the bottom of that scale: our enemies. What sort of "love" could we possibly have for them, right? Well, we can have perspective. Perspective that reminds us of the circumstances that made or inspired them to be evil might have been out of their control (not to absolve them of their evil but to give root to it) and to thereby rightly condemn them for their actions but to not take their actions personally. Moreover, our perspective can give us the gumption to send a blessing or prayer out for them: in the hope that they change and subsequently stop hurting others. 

Perspective may not seem like a form of love but it's definitely in the scale. When we broaden our understanding of the complexity of the world and the fallibility of the human, we give others (not only our enemies) respect. Evil is evil, but sometimes evil had help. When we keep that in the back of our minds, we give respect to our adversaries by giving them room to change and our hope that they will.

13:10 At the very least, do not harm anyone back. That is a form of love. If you absolutely, justly, hate somebody, at least do not do to them what they did to you. Why? We will use this Mark Twain quote to 

answer that: “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” Self love is also on the scale. Giving others forgiveness (even if it's actually a gift to ourselves) is a form of love.

Forgiveness does not mean you have to let that person into your heart or home countless times. You can entirely remove them from your life and your thoughts and still give forgiveness in this way: you released them by releasing your anger. You moved on, you let them go. You may have even let the law deal with them, completely fair. Forgiveness does not mean to freely let someone off the hook for something they did wrong! If someone genuinely, sincerely asks for your forgiveness and works to earn it, give it to them by giving away your anger... and even if you can't, give them forgiveness by not keeping them around to keep firing darts at them. Move on, sometimes that truly is a gift of love.

Don't do harm, neither to those you love nor to those you hate... that is a form of love.

13:11-12 Paul is speaking to people hundreds and hundreds and hundreds... and more years ago and so how much more relevant is this statement? The time to wake up is now. Wake up how? It's time to realize that 1) There is work to do on earth 2) We all have a purpose 3) Our purpose is specifically tailored to types of work that need to be done on earth 4) We are capable and equip with the ability and materials to make a difference here with our lives, the friendships and relationships we cultivate.

We cannot live in lethargy or apathy or ignorance for another mine: neither individually or collectively as a species. There are so many mouths to feed and souls to inspire and brains to fill with knowledge, so many hands to fill with opportunity and hearts to fill with happiness. 

Let your spiritually, your connection with life, inspire you to armor yourself with its light, it's wisdom and ability.

13:13 We don't have time to be inebriated, neither with drink or lust or greed or envy or suffering or corruption. Let those things go, clear your mind and heart and soul. Work to make your brain and spirit healthy. We waste our time when we refuse to leave the basins of negativity and evil. We waste our time, we waste each other's time. We have the capacity for so much happiness! The ability to inspire and create so much happiness... there is endless space for justice and compassion in this universe and beyond. Let's start contributing. Let's start creating. Awakening to our clear-headed, clean-hearted purpose and our ability will give us new, bold, bright life.

13:14 Let go of the things corruption in the world have taught us: the pursuit of wealth, fame and power. Those things ruin us, distract us, drain us of our compassion and true purpose. Instead, arm yourself with this philosophy brought by Jesus, reiterated passionately by Paul, and reject the lust for wealth and power and fame in all their forms. Arm yourself with purpose and kindness, with your spirituality and watch it transform your life. Watch yourself transform the lives of others in beautiful ways.

NT: Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 12

Epistle of Paul to the Romans 12:1-21

12:1 Show your love and gratitude God by respecting yourself, by always striving to grow in wisdom and health and compassion. Let your life be a testimony of your spiritual alignment with His will. He has given you the body which houses your soul, appreciate the living miracle that you are. Nourish yourself so that your body and mind and soul and life are purposeful in compassion and wisdom. You can do so much in on the earth, become a fellow-worker with God. He gave you all of the tools and materials to do so.

12:2 Disentangle yourself from the ideals and values the world has placed on life, things like: power, fame, and wealth. Divest the gossip and the greed, the discontentment and impatience. You do not want to be shaped and molded by the world because the world's gods (power, fame, and wealth) are responsible for adversity and disparity, pain and suffering. 

Let yourself be transformed by God, renewed in spirit with a new perspective and understanding on life and compassion and creation. Through your spirituality, you will continue to develop in perspective and wisdom: a new fascination with all life, earth, and all plant and animal, element and atom. 

Living your life with spiritual wisdom and compassion will be a testimony of good. Your just acts and impartial empathy will speak of God's perfect love: untainted and uninfluenced, abundant and wholehearted.

12:3 Be humble. Our bodies and our souls are a miracle, but what makes them miraculous is not that they are better than any other life (they are not) but that they share the elements of all life. Realize your spiritual but also elemental kinship with all plant and animal and planet and universe. 

God has love and faith and hope and appreciation for each of His creations. Our creator is humble and has modestly created brilliant life in every crevice of the universe. We are loved not ruled. We should live with love and follow the example given to us. We should not feel superior because all life is cherished by God, all life is curated and protected with precision and love. 

Humans aren't exactly appreciative and protective of our home: earth. Yet God has promised to restore the earth (as we read in a previous chapter). He will restore the earth because He loves life, all flora and fauna. 

12:4 Our body systems are a collaborative effort. Each organ of our body contributes to our ability to be alive: and thought each organ is different, each is essential; a part of the whole. God wishes for us to understand ourselves in our earth (and also spiritually) in a similar way: we each appear to exist separately but we are parts of a larger, comprehensive member. Together we are alive, together we are life. Our different personalities and talents and interests and short-comings allow for disparate lessons and expressions and opportunities, joys and laughter in the world. Plants and even distant planets contribute to our ability to be alive. (Thanks, Jupiter for absorbing all those explosive space rocks before they arrive here!)

Our scientific journey here has only begun; there is so much we do not understand. God has created so many components which enable us to be safe and alive... unrealized organs contributing to the life within our own planet and body.

12:5 So yes, we and plants and other animals are different but we are each equally important. Our differences help us to contribute to life rather than to stand out from it. The philosophy of God, manifested by Jesus, is alive within us. As God's children, we have Him within us. He created the bee and beetle, tulip and tree, He created you and He created me... together we are a family.

12:6 When we develop our spiritual relationship with God, He is able to activate within us our specific potential. He has generously apportioned to each of us talent and ability but it is up to us to seek it, accept it and hone and share our skill. We are each so capable of changing our worlds if only we accept the opportunity, the blessing to do so. Appreciate all life, plant and people and everything else for their differences. God has has allowed us to be authentically unique because He values and finds beauty in manifestations and expressions of life. 

No matter what we love or are curious about, it is all valued by God. He understands the forms of creation humans have expressed: dancers and painters, writers and comedians, teachers and scientists, kind friends and attentive fathers, animal lovers and adventurers... no matter what you like, and even if you don't know what you like, God wants to help you find it and thrive within it. To make the world better, deeper, more colorful through what you like and what you do and who you are.

12:7-8 We have so many varying gifts and abilities: some people are naturally, especially patient and kind. Some people are good listeners and shoulders to lean on, some people are deeply forgiving or empathetic or cheerful or studious... there is a need in the world for all of those types of people (and more!).

We are contributes to life, enhancers of it. Develop your faith, establish yourself in authentic spirituality, learn and grow and then gift the world with who you are. 

12:9 This verse begins a series of valuable advice on how to navigate life:

• Let love be without hypocrisy: Be open and appreciated to all of humanity, our diversity is beautiful. People around the world want the same things, no matter how differently they express them: to be happy, to laugh, to have a healthy family, to eat yummy food and do fun things. Do not be a hypocrite, allow others to pursue the same happiness you want for yourself.
• Abhor what is evil: Abhor. Hate with passion what is unjust, violent and evil. Use your passion for compassion and justice to fuel your actions against what is evil. Remove it from your life and help to remove it from others' lives. Do not dabble with the qualities which lead to evil: jealously, greed, impatience, hypocrisy, hate... they will only drag you down and extinguish the happiness and peace in your life.
• Cling to what is good: Wrap yourself with goodness, wrap goodness around yourself. When you see happiness, sustain it, contribute to it, nourish it. Celebrate all forms of joy. Tether yourself to patience and peace and acceptance. 

12:10 

• Love and appreciate people: Love people as if their happiness and health is directly related to your own, because it is and should be. Be honored to contribute to someones betterment; it's a blessing to be able to help another.

12:11

• Do not be lethargic or apathetic: Be passionate, be purposeful. Foster a happy, productive spirit and work with God to make this earth better and brighter. 

12:12

• Rejoice in hope: Hope is essential to our lifeline. Hope allows us to be imaginative, to dream and plan for ways to make life better. Hope allows us to rejoice in our lives, all of the potential and possibilities, little jewels that are cemented into our path (even the parts we haven't reached yet).
• Be patient in tribulation: Life is an instruction if we allow it to be. We learn and subsequently grow after experiencing something we did not understand. We learn how to react better the next time it finds us or to avoid it all together. We learn the value of love and justice. Be patient and allow yourself to be honed and sculpted into something stronger, wiser and more perceptive. Persevere because you have perseverance within you.
• Continue steadfastly in prayer: Maintain your relationship with the source of your life, breathing, and beat of heart: our creator, our God. Constantly, consistently communicate with Him: both your joys and your trials. He will help you, lead you... He will make you life and make you brave. Continue steadfastly with Him because with our permission, He's going to establish a beautiful, purposeful path for us to walk throughout our lives.

12:13

• Support and help and work with people who dedicate their lives to others: We must appreciate and value (not revere) people who are compassionate and selfless with their lives. We must join them, become them. For example: Paul who is speaking to us now. He has written down for us these beautiful life lessons, let's share them and help him to reach more and more people.

12:14

• Bless your adversaries: Why? Bless them because you deserve it. You deserve to have people in the world who receive God's word and are changed by it. Cursing a person will never change them, and if they are evil, they need to change. You deserve to live in a world where people cast blessings and hopes for others rather than curses and ill-wishes. Bless them because your compassion moves God to try even harder to work with them and lead them out of their darkness.

12:15

• Share the expressions of others: This is empathy. Care about people so much that whatever they experience, you experience with them. Never let them be alone when they need a friend.

12:16

• Be Humble: Forget about wealth and fame and keeping up with the Jones', as they say. The real value is in life. Feel neither superior nor inferior to others: each of us is loved and has an equal right to be here. 

12:17

• Do not be vengeful: No one benefits from retaliation. Anyway, it's hypocritical to be vengeful. If someone hurt you by because unjust or unkind, why would you stoop down to their level? You're better than unkindness. Do not allow pain and frustration to fester inside of you, it's unhealthy. Remember always that you are important, you are unique and beautiful and capable and deserving of love. If anyone disrespects that, remove yourself out of their darkness. You are a light, meant to shine not to be extinguished. Ask God to help that person so that that person does not continue to hurt others as they have hurt you and move on! Your best vengeance is that one day they wake up and realize the pain they caused and then become better because of it, motivated to change because they sincerely wish to atone for their past behavior.

12:18

• Live peaceably: Situations and conditions are not always in your control, but do what you can not to cause or contribute to friction between another person. Be fair. Be kind. If they refuse to reciprocate, walk away.

12:19

• Allow God to handle evil: Those who are against you will never triumph. God loves you and He pays particular attention to you and how people interact with you. He's going to completely remove evil from your life; living spiritually with Him, nothing less than wonder and love and compassion will be able to reach you. God is disturbed and hurt by injustice and unkindness on the earth; nothing goes unnoticed by Him and everyone and everything will have to speak for themselves. (For most of us, that's a moment to look forward to, to look back at all the good we did and stand grateful for all the opportunities we had to do it). 

12:20

• Do not succumb to evil's level: How much more guilty is a person and how much more compassionate are you when you do not succumb to their level? The kinder you are, the more vehement God is in protecting you. Anyone against a child of God should not dare mess with them!

12:21

• Overcome evil with good: Work not to be irascible. There is a lot wrong in the world, much disparity, much injustice... do not let it cloak you or you view of humanity in darkness. Do not be tempted to join it because it encircles you. You have power over it, no matter how prevalent it seems. Most importantly: force and inspire, foster and promote good so that it clobbers evil, stifles evil, boldly forces evil into a cower. You have so much potential here, so many opportunities to be instrumental in the betterment of the earth and humanity! Look around your life, you were placed where you are for a reason. There is work to do and you are able.

NT: Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 11

Epistle of Paul to the Romans 11:1-36

11:1 God has recognized and acknowledged that humans are flawed, and while our actions sometimes hurt and stun Him, He never abandons us. He never abandons His hope that we will grow and learn and change. He is with us in this journey, never neglects us, and actually never punishes us: we are the ones who punish ourselves when we do not do our best. Ill-action has subsequent consequence, it is simple logic. 

11:2 God does not cast away His children. Specifically, He does not cast away His children who He knows have great potential to be compassionate and just. He understands and accepts that we are flawed yet He chooses to remain with us because He also understands and accepts that we are not always accurately defined by our mistakes. Sometimes we truly do grow from them and who better to teach us this lesson than Paul? Had God cast Paul away without ever considering his potential as a productive child of God, Paul would have died never realizing that he could be better than how he was.

11:3 In 1 Kings of the old testament, the prophet Elijah witnesses all of his fellow-prophets lose their earth-lives to adversity and he worries that God might give up on humanity, count as a long and cruel cause. Elijah worries that he is alone after watching his friends die and with them, much of the message and philosophy of compassion that Elijah believed in.

11:4 God reassures Elijah. God knows and never leaves his children who never leave Him. They are never alone, no matter how grim the circumstances around them may seem to be. God knows His children so well, even the specific number of them who He can trust (whether [and I believe it is] this seven thousand is representative of another number is beside the point). God carefully follows His children and He has specific plans for and with each of us. 

11:5 No matter how much chaos and injustice fill the world, God promises us that good and compassion have always remained here, and that He has always remained with those people, those souls. Compassionate souls elected to serve with and through His grace (His compassionate wisdom and creation). 

11:6 After all, no matter how we behave on earth, our ability to live with and understanding grace has come from Him. After developing a spiritual connection with Him, we grow to understand that our lives on earth are not labor or duty but are a purposeful, instrumental part of life and creation's flow and flourish. We begin to realize that our kindness is not the currency with which we purchase the spiritual life existing beyond and before and along this life on earth, but is actually the frequency of life itself. Compassion is not the destination or the means to a destination but is the way of life. Compassion is the element from which all life stems; rather than work it is life.

11:7-8 As a group, humanity falls short on spiritual awakening. Yet within the population of souls on earth, there are people who have created, maintained and nourished their spiritual connection with compassion and creation, divinity in whichever capacity they understand it. To the rest, God has blessed them by absolving them from their chosen ignorance. They do not hear or see, that is, they do not perceive or understand spiritually and God has made it easy for them. Why? Because if a child does not know something is wrong, you cannot blame them for doing it. God works it out that He can always find an aspect of His children under which they deserve His forgiveness because He is merciful and wise. 

11:9 In Psalm 69 David speaks of the human condition. When a soul is not connected to its origin, it becomes vulnerable to the entrapment of adversity. It does not understand itself and therefore identifies with the wrong ideas and emotions and expressions and becomes entangled with self-made mistake and the injustice of and by others.  

11:10 David continues: if a person wishes to remain in the dark or neglects to contemplate the light, meaning that they suffocate their spiritual connection, allow them to be strong. Life is hard for a confused soul, for a person not connected to the grander scheme. David hopes for strength for them, for their back, metaphorically, so that they can carry the weight of living without spirituality. 

11:11 God opened up His heart and His home to all people and the early generations of humans were indignant. God always planned to reveal Himself (in various and diversified ways) to everyone on the earth. Yet the first generation who made a connection with Him neglected and even denied Him. It was not a punishment to them that God sought to develop relationships with other souls, yet it was often perceived as such. People cling to their superiority complexes, God instructs us to realize ourselves as all equally vital to the family. And yet it woke them up, when people started realizing that they were on an even plain with the rest of the world, they began to appreciate God again. We certainly can learn from our flaws!

11:12 God's work and wisdom comes full circle: People were able to reconnect with Him after realizing what life is like without Him and by watching others receive is love and help in their lives.

11:13-14 Paul is explaining: If it takes making the mistake of living life unjustly, or breaking the connection with God, or living in envy of another's spirituality, for a person to realize and appreciate how corrosively they have been living, well, go through that phase to get back to life. True life, spiritual life with God. Humans learn through experience because we have the tendency to be stubborn, arrogant and ignorant. Paul wants us to use our flaws to learn how to be better. 

11:15 An unkind, unjust soul will never have spiritual life. Therefore, when an unkind person becomes kind and an unjust person becomes just, they have awakened from the dead, spiritually. 

11:16 Our souls come from a spiritual existence. Our creator is spiritual, an essence, an entity superseding the conditions and elements of earth and life as we know it. We have goodness in us, we have compassion in our DNA, but it is up to us to utilize it. Just as we were born with legs: simply having legs does not make us great runners but having them certainly supplies the potential. 

11:17-18 No matter who we are or what we do while here on earth, our life has been given to us by a creator, but a spirit wiser than our own. Everything that we are and have and are capable of has been given to us. We must not become arrogant, as individuals or as a group, because we are not the creators of life. Our ability to think and be curious, move and manipulate things, ideas and people are all gifts we were given. Our root is the origin of everything about us, about our world, about the universe and about everything that exists that we do not yet know. 

11:19-21 We must not compare ourselves to others. Another person's journey is their business and therefore we cannot label them inferior. You know the phrase "Holier than thou"? That's exactly how you do not want to act and live.

11:22 We are not meant to delight in others receiving punishment. We should realize that we can trust that God is going to work with each of us fairly. We each can learn from Him and grow in compassion and wisdom and wise and compassionate spirits. Through many methods He helps us to learn concepts and ways of living compassionately, resiliently and justly.

God sheers injustice, arrogance, evil, vengeance right off from His tree. Don't be a hypocrite. Being kind does not mean to be a doormat or to turn your eyes when someone is unkind, it means to be fair, and to always consider that the complexities within a circumstance might be beyond your knowledge. 

11:23 Just because a person loses their place in His family (through behaving unjustly) does not mean that they have lost it forever. There is redemption: turning your heart toward kindness welcomes you back in as securely as you ever were, as God always wanted you to be and remain.

11:24 People who were unkind but changed their way are welcomed as kin. The people who were always kindhearted deep down but lost their way are accepted back as kin. It's so sweet for God to welcome back His children who He always hoped He could count on.

11:25-27 Through love, hard-work and determination, God will work tirelessly to reach each of His children. To give each of us the experiences we require in order to learn and become inspired to be our best selves. As a whole and individual He will support us, He will lead us, all we have to do is take His hand.

How will He take our sins away? He will teach our hearts how to be more sincere, more appreciative of all the life and potential around us, more emphatic, more purposeful. 

11:28 This life is an instruction! We learn so much from the adversity we walk through. From the adversity we survive, from the adversity we help others through. Enemies are not out stumbling-blocks, they are our fuel to be better, to be kinder, to be more productive against evil. They inspire us to promote and protect compassion. You are loved, so deeply, by God: the circumstances of this life are not happenstance, they are not meant to break us or harm us or hinder us, they are meant to show us how strong we are. How kind. How able. How important. How valued. We learn of love and how precious it is here because it requires our attention, our protection. We learn its value. 

11:29 God has established this earth and these souls of ours and everything they are composed of. Our gifts and our potential are not taken from us, they remain with us, waiting for us to utilize them.

11:30 We learn from others. We learn how injustice ruins the world from watching how others' injustice ruins people and families and all forms of life. This experience of earth allows us to learn so much, directly but as indirectly. God's mercy allows us the room for trial-and-error, to learn from our flaws and our mistakes. 

11:31 You are a testimony. Your life is a testimony. What you do teaches others: directly and in directly. You are purposeful. You are instrumental. You have an impact on the world, even when you do not realize. Moreover, when you have developed your spiritual connection, people will sense it within you: they will see your patience and wisdom and perseverance and it will inspire them to explore themselves and all life more deeply.

11:32 We are all flawed. God has allowed us the materials and conditions to become our authentic selves and along with those gifts: He gives us the gift of mercy. He understands that with complete freedom, we are going to make mistakes. We are going to have moments of arrogance, anger, impatience, unkindness... He understands that we must have those moments in order to learn directly from them.

11:33 Our creator, the spirituality which gave life to us, is so wise. Wise beyond our understanding, wise beyond our capability. Our creator has placed intricate order to this world. Life has created life. Compassion has created compassion. The power and brilliance and intelligence that has given us life is magnificent, beyond human comprehension.

11:34 Life, compassion, creation, divinity requires nothing to be everything It is. 

11:35 Life has given everything: life in all forms, those we understand and know of and those we do not. Life has given life, has given light, has given wisdom, compassion, has given soul and spirit... freely, impartially, with love and justice. Life has burst with life generously, abundantly. Life yields life not because it has to or should or owes anything but because life loves life and because life can.

11:36 Let's let this truth from Paul sink into our hearts, into our spirits: For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

NT: Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 10

Epistle of Paul to the Romans 10:1-21

10:1 Throughout his life and continued growth in faith, Paul's compassion for others grew as well. He cared deeply that people would be able to find the philosophy of life which would promote their well-being.

10:2 It's one thing for a person to say they believe in something but unless there is faith and passion and action beneath what they say, it isn't true belief. Fancy customs and long-held traditions do not make something sacred. A person's faith must be sincere and consistent, and when it is, it does not need to be celebrated or displayed elaborately to be real and true.

10:3 Many religions get a lot wrong. Wrapped up in historical traditions and man-made rules, they lose the humble and compassionate substance of God. Churches get bigger and fancier but the core of the message they are supposed to be teaching is humility, charity, empathy... many aspects of many religions have become hypocritical and contradictory to the text they claim to teach and emulate. 

10:4 The philosophy that Jesus brought is all-inclusive; combined: philosophy, wisdom, purpose, compassion.

10:5 Our actions on earth either enable or disable us from living beyond earth. When we introduce and sustain God's philosophy in our lives and actions, we doubly live: we come alive here in wisdom and compassion and we come alive spiritually. 

10:6-9 Paul implores us to take responsibility for ourselves. We must be active participants in the growth and learning, course and culmination of our own lives. 

We should not waste our time worrying about reward or punishment; we should live. Now is our opportunity to be purposeful, to be active, to impact the world. We should not waste that time.

Saved: This word "saved" is not often understood well enough. God's philosophy saves us because it reveals to us our capability, our purpose, our value. He reveals to us that we have an impact on the world if we accept that truth and if we live with that truth. We are saved from purposelessness, from low self-esteem, from being controlled or influenced by others. 

10:10-13 We must be consistent. What we say and believe and do must all be in sync. We must be focused, determined, wise. A compassionate heart is known to God. A deceitful heart is known to God. Regardless of external factors and the facades people put up, we are known by our personal truth.

Believing in God or in Jesus is only important if the person believes in what they stand for: kindness, compassion, justice, wisdom. As long as a person believes in those things, they also believe in God (whether they realize it or not). Spirituality is not an exclusive, specific club, there are many places and ways of entry.

10:14 It's important to God that everyone is exposed to spirituality and to kindness if they wish to absorb it. Those who seek will find Him in a variety of ways, through different religious and non-religious contexts and cultures and types of spirituality. God's connection to each person is specifically tailored to their life and their heart.

10:15 Therefore He ensures that spirituality is also able to teach those people who seek it. We have the opportunity to work with God, to let Him work through us... to be His vessel, instrument through which He can reach people, directly and personally in the world. 

10:16-17 God's spirit is prevalent in the world but only to the people who are giving attention to it, listening and looking for it, perceptively, earnestly, passionately. Why? Because spirituality is deep with wisdom and only those who are focused and passionate have the mind and spirit resilient enough to listen to its instruction, apply it consistently to their lives and to perceive it in its subtle ways.

10:18 Many people are not listening and God does not force them to. Spiritually wisdom is alive and instructive on the earth but there are people who disregard it or do not acknowledge it at all. 

10:19-21 Throughout human history here on earth, God has made Himself available to everyone. Even though His philosophy has been rejected, ignored, opposed, He has offered His compassion and wisdom impartially, abundantly. He has always made Himself available, even though multitudes of people have disregarded Him. He puts His whole heart and effort into reaching humanity, even when humanity does not really deserve it. 

NT: Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 9

Epistle of Paul to the Romans 9:1-33

9:1 Paul begins speaking of humanity's departure from God. Keep in mind how impersonal that word can be: God. Instead, remember that the word is encompassing our Creator who deeply and uniquely loves us. 

9:2 Paul expresses the grief inside of him that our Creator's children have left Him. It's easy to relate to Paul. It isn't that Paul wishes for people to be strictly religious, it's that he can see how badly and consistently people suffer all because they lost or rejected their spiritual-foundation. When we grow accustomed to having a relationship with God, it's difficult for us to watch others stumble without one. We receive so much guidance and love, we see it abundantly offered, and yet juxtaposed it, we watch people walk right by it.

Our compassion wants to see others thrive, as we have with Him. Yet we know that our path and love and joy of life comes only from the place they are neglecting to look.

9:3-5 Paul so vehemently wishes that he was able to guide and encourage people to return to their spiritual creator. Even if it meant sacrificing himself, his whole life and all of his energy for the benefit of others, he would do it. It's important to Paul because once having developed an honest, deep, spiritual-connection with God, it is like a rebirth, a reawakening. It's not a cliche, we truly wake up each day and live through each word and breath and moment with a new clarity, a purposeful and compassionate perspective. We wake up with the perseverance to go through trials of testing patience and honesty and kindness. We review your "previous" life as if it were lived in a slumber; as if we were ambling around in the dark, clumsily walking and thinking. And essentially, that's exactly what we were doing.

The "fathers" are the patriarchs of the original 12 tribes, God's children, now spread throughout the world.

9:6 And yet, even though we are each a child of God, we must spiritual-awaken to that fact. Not all of God's children are compassionate, just and kind and therefore their qualities disable them from truly being a part of the family; like withered leaves on an otherwise healthy tree, they fall off.

9:7 Similarly, even though we can trace our genealogy back to Abraham, our spirits still must be in tune with the prophet, Jesus, who also came through Abraham's lineage. Jesus taught us of our home, of the spiritual and compassionate nature of our creator. We cannot remain a branch or leaf on God's tree unless we operate and express the same way He does, the way Jesus brought and taught to us. 

For example: a tree grows in soil with water and sunlight. The tree cannot grow if it has no soil, no water or sunlight. A spiritual child of God grows in light (His wisdom), love and compassion. The child cannot grow without those things. We may be a leaf on the tree from birth but if we are nourished by something else, something different from the tree, we cannot scientifically remain with it and we subsequently break off (not as a punishment but as a logical conclusion based on the components). Meaning that if what makes a person feel passionate and alive is power, arrogance or greed, they would be nourished by what nourishes God or His children. They wither and become nothing because God has created life and that which sustains it. There is no place in existence where He has allowed injustice to thrive, or exist without mortality. 

9:8 People who are passionate about becoming wealthy and prominent and powerful here on earth neglect to prepare themselves for the life which follows. Everything we become here determines who we are there. Our life's work is to adapt to our spiritual lives beyond this one and to do that, we must grow in compassion, faith, and humility. 

God's children must become familiar with their home, even if they do it unknowingly. A kind, generous, and just person has become familiar with their spiritual home even if they (think they) identify as agnostic or even atheist.

9:9-11 From the beginning, God has expertly created and planned for His children to be born into the world. Throughout humanity and each of our births, God has divinely implemented His purpose into our world. God is generous with us and trusting in us: He has given us the blessed privilege of working with Him in implementing His purpose into the world. He knows which of us His children will become passionate about fulfilling their own purpose for the betterment of others. He knows your heart*; He's waiting for you to seek Him and begin using it* purposefully.

9:12-13 Paul redirects our attention to Genesis. He explains to us that Jacob and Esau were brothers, both children of God. The difference was that Esau did not care about his father, or anything that his father offered him. (Symbolism: Some children do not care about God and even if they knew 100% that he existed, would reject him because their hearts oppose him). Jacob, however, loved his father and felt blessed and privileged to be his son. Jacob loved what his father stood for and was passionate and determined in ensuring that those values thrives.

We are all children of God (siblings), but we only remain in the family if we are willing participants of compassion. If we decide that our "father," our foundation is going to be based on and made up of qualities and values opposing God's compassion, we abdicate and join a new family: nonexistence. 

9:14 God's children have imperfections on earth but He has none. He is perfectly, humbly, expertly aligned in compassion and nourishment and promotion of life and justice. Part of His perfection is that He has given us the opportunity to fail. It sounds funny but by giving us the opportunity to fail, He has given us the ability to become who we want to be and who we truly are. If He programmed us in perfection, we wouldn't be authentic. Our love, kindness, or justice would be false and forced.

God has the wisdom, courage and perseverance, the mercy to accept us as we truly are. He has given us space to roam and create, grow and learn and become with complete freedom. Sometimes there are bad-apples; but they've made their own decisions, freely. Therefore, bad apples aren't bad because they have inherited it, they are bad because they've been given the freedom of the decision to choose to be.

In this verse of this study and in the Old Testament, it is expressed that Esau is hated. Creation itself opposes Esau because Esau is a symbol of destruction. This relationship between the two: Creation and Destruction is simple logic: one denies the other. Esau was hated because he had, and symbolized, an outlook on life which was selfish, apathetic, unkind. It isn't unrighteous for creation to hate destruction, it's just logic.

9:15-16 This is an assurance of God's will. Those who receive His mercy and compassion are decidedly, divinely chosen to receive it. Those who do not are similarly winnowed; each heart and spirit is known and understood precisely and therefore can only receive what is deserving.

Meaning that compassion and direction and life is given to the kind and to the faithful. No matter how sly and conniving a human is, God knows their truth and they are inevitably thwarted. No un-welcomed soul slips cleverly into His family.

9:17 It is a comfort, a blessing and a privileged to have God work through and with you. We have the opportunity to impact the world, to be living evidence of the life beyond and superseding this one. We have the privilege of contributing to life: nourishing, saving, creating and promoting it. We must have a spiritual connection in order to receive the blueprints, the plans, the compassion to do its divine work.

9:18 When we give Him permission, we are expertly molded. We grow and learn through experience and instruction. He opens our mind, enables our bravery, creates the specific circumstances we need to do miraculous things.

9:19-21 Many people blame God or reject the idea of God because they dislike that there is suffering and evil among humanity. Is it fair to blame and reject God for giving us the freedom to become who we want to rather than who we are forced to? He has allowed us to grow imperfectly not out of mistake or apathy but out of love, consideration and fairness.

He allows us to become who we are and sometimes people make unacceptable choices. When those unacceptable choices are made the come with a condition: you may do what you want, but only compassion is tolerated following this life. Our actions here determine our ability to adapt to life there. If a person decides to make a decision which disables them from adapting to the spiritual life, that is not a punishment, that is the subsequent result of their choice.

9:22-24 Our experience on earth enables us to understand and perceive deeply. We learn the ramifications of injustice as well as the joy of compassion. God suffers and endures the pain of humanity's mistakes and poor choices (and the pain it causes others) so that we have the opportunity to become informed. Through His faithful children, He has vessels through which to combat injustice on the earth and to bring light to darkness.

9:25-26 Each person on earth is welcomed as His family. Each person on the earth is welcomed to study under and with Him. He reaches all people, all cultures, all types of spirituality. He reaches people in an infinite amount of ways: through art and thought and dance and every hobby or passion or interest a person has. The only requirement is that, no matter what our connection with Him comes through, we are listening for Him.

9:27 The children of Israel: do not mistake this word "Israel" to mean the people in the country of Israel. Many, many years ago, the early tribes of people on the earth were grouped together under this name as the children of God. These children (we) are now scattered throughout the earth, but we each are still members of the original tribes and families. And, as this verse tells us, there have been many, many, many of us born into the earth throughout time.

9:28 Very swiftly, fairly, and easily God will divide the humans of the earth up: the compassionate will join Him, the evil will be extinguished. He has been and is watching, patiently, studiously, and with precise focus. When it is time for earth to be renewed and the children to be gathered, He is ready.

9:29 Without God's spirit in the earth and among humanity we, collectively, would truly be lost. He has given us the perception and emotion and expression to grow and learn on earth toward betterment and compassion. Without Him we are chaotic; without Him (the values that He stands for and is) the world would be bereft.

9:30-33 No human on earth, regardless of their faith or religion has superiority over another. God has given Himself to all people, through many mediums and avenues. Even if you are a descendant of Moses himself, if your heart is not compassionate and your spirit is not focused in justice, you have no claim to God's family. Likewise, even if your entire line of ancestors were evil and you have never been to church or temple or any religious institution ever in your entire life... if you have a compassionate heart and you promote and defend compassion and justice (without even realizing you are spiritual) you are welcomed and cherished as a member of the family.

NT: Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 8

Epistle of Paul to the Romans 8:1-39

8:1 People who follow the philosophy of life Jesus taught (or have found the same philosophy of life through some other path) are free from many things. Our creator has left us the breadcrumb-sprinkled paths toward happiness. He leads us into self-value, self-purpose, and gives us the wisdom, perspective and opportunity to productively fulfill it. He gives us the wisdom to realize, access and then utilize our spiritual selves, to be more than just bodies going through the motions.

8:2 As Paul expresses, our creator frees us from the discontentment and frustration, the cyclical chaos of anger, greed, and injustice. He frees us from purposelessness. He removes our limits and places us on a peak able to view all of the possibilities of ourselves and our lives. He prepares us for the life beyond this one.

8:3-4 Many people were unable to realize, understand and absorb God's philosophy without Jesus' teachings. There were a set of guidelines to follow but people did not understand the purpose of them; people did not understand that life was bigger than this portion of life on earth. Jesus came and manifested kindness, justice and faith, a living example. 

8:5-6 The focus of our mind is the representation of who we are. Moreover, the limits of our mind is a representation of who we are. Our focus must be grand, must incorporate more perspectives than just our own. If we focus selfishly on ourselves, on having a powerful and wealthy life here now, not only do we neglect others but we also neglect the deeper part of ourselves. To be spiritually minded is to have a broad perspective of both this life and the next: the promotion of life and peace always our focus.

8:7-8 Paul is teaching us to separate our spirits from the bodies which host them. Paul teaches us not to succumb to the inclinations our bodies can tend to have: anger, impatience, greed. Our spirits are more productive than our bodies, they are wiser and capable of great patience. In other words, we can more wisely and productively balance and respond to situations in our lives when we access our spirit.

There is more to life than just existing or procuring. We can be purposeful, instrumental, even in bettering the people and world around us. We can be purposeful and instrumental in bettering ourselves and our own lives. God has a difficult time understanding a person who does not live up to their potential, a person who wastes it away due to lethargy or apathy.

8:9 Therefore, a person who has awakened to and nourished their spiritual self has the support and guidance of the Spirit they came from. A puzzle piece, they've fit into their perfectly tailored place and can now access the grander picture and the support of being more than just a singular, random existence.

8:10 This is a metaphor: when we awaken spiritually, we are no longer bound to the whims and emotions of our bodies. Instead, we think and act strategically, productively in compassion through our minds.

8:11 I love this verse because it speaks of the intimate relationship we have with our creator. More than simply being with us, He is within us. Only a spiritual being can exist in a spiritual world, the life which follows this one. If you haven't wakened spiritually, how can you exist there? It's not a punishment it's just simple logic. A living thing must adapt to its habitat. 

Remember, there is no such thing as hell. Our creator has created, promoted and sustain life not death. In the next life, we either are able to exist there or we are not able: meaning we are not able to exist. Evil thoughts, actions, people, potential, are poof! Gone! Extinct. 

8:12-13 We owe it to God but also to ourselves to claim our lives. Ours lives improve exponentially, indescribably, when start living deeper than our superficial surface. Our creator has made that possible but we contribute to its possibility when we live purposefully, spiritually.

Don't confuse "spiritually" with "religiously." Spirituality is a way of life, the philosophy of living purposefully in compassion. You can be spiritual and simultaneously non-religious. You can be religious and simultaneously non-spiritual. Being a good person is more important that customs, traditions and rules. You don't even ever have to go to church or any other religious organization. How you interact with yourself and humanity is representative of your spirituality.

8:14 If you live with God's philosophy of life, you awaken to your existence as His child.

8:15 We are freed and embraced by our creator, our parent, our father, mother, however you conceive of the divine entity which has given us life. We aren't traded from authoritarian to authoritarian, when we join with God, we join in freedom with our family.

"Abba": father; customary title used of God in prayer. 

8:16-17 Children of God live in Him and He in them. Together they endure all things: love and sadness, joy and frustration. As His children, His home becomes our home. He offers to us everything that He is and has created. We aren't guests, we aren't even honored guests, we too are the owners. We are blessed, beloved children.

8:18 This life, precious as it can be, difficult as it can be, is a blip on the radar. In the grand scheme, it is a tiny portion of our lives. Our loving creator wants us to remember and find comfort and excitement in the prospect of living with Him beyond this earth. There is so much love and light and beauty to follow. 

Our courage is often required here on earth. When we become proponents of good and justice, we must confront out adversaries. Compassionate hearts endure heartbreak when injustice takes root but God wants us to know that our work here, strenuous and difficult as it may be, can never compare to the joy our life's work inspires. More than that, we are absorbed in tremendous love and light at the culmination of our lives here.

8:19 Paul explains to us that all living nature awaits to be reunited with God. The world around us is bursting with life: plants and animals, atmosphere and universe. God has created all of it and as all creation is a child of Himself, each hopes with anticipation to be with Him again. We each hope to be guided and nourished by Him.

8:20 Understandably, the earth has not benefited from humanity's presence here. God placed us here hoping that we would learn and grow and we certainly have made a mess while doing that. Humans have contributed to the extinction of many plants and animals, deforestation, desertification, global warming... in so many ways, humans have stripped earth of life. The earth, quite alive itself, is self-sustained, perfectly tailored to support and encourage life; it has a natural order. A natural order that humans have disrupted.

8:21 God's promises extend beyond us and we should humbly be joyful and grateful for this. God will restore and replenish this beautiful earth which has been our home, the food for our energy, the breath in our lungs, the material for our bodies. God does not neglect any of His creation. Earth will also receive its glorious liberty. 

God loves us so much and yet He loves all that He has created so much. He's aware and attentive, generous and kind to every detail, every crevice, every life.

8:22-23 There is an imbalance here. The earth endures and we endure as we work to find our way back to our Spiritual Creator. There is unrest here, constant change and development. When we reach Him, everything and everyone will be established securely in Him and His perfection. We eagerly await His adoption of us. Everything and everyone will find their perfect fit and will remain in Him consistently.

8:24-25 Let our faith fuel our perseverance. We are sent here without recollection of Him and He places His hope in us that out of true love, we will find Him again. Can you imagine how difficult that is for Him? To say goodbye, for a time and maybe forever, to children He loves so much? To erase our memory of His love from our minds? Yet heart-breaking as it was, He has done it to gift us complete freedom of choice. Complete freedom to create ourselves. Those who truly love Him will feel His presence within themselves and will work to remember Him, will work to return to Him.

Let our faith fuel our perseverance because if He were right in front of us, we would take Him, each other and our lives for granted. This is why He has promised us: "If you seek with all your heart, you will find Me." Our seek reveals our true love and appreciation for Him. Our seek reveals that our true character is kind and compassionate, because His philosophy has resonated through our minds and hearts.

Here on earth we learn the value of life. We learn the destruction of injustice. We learn the resilience of compassion. Here on earth we are made wise through experience, seasoned, made aware. Our choices are informed here. Who we are is a choice here because we are allowed the freedom to create ourselves and our values. He hopes that who we become and the values we choose align with Him and His.

When we have faith in Him, we have the perseverance we need to productively live this life, this journey toward our spiritual home.

8:26 When we trust Him to do so, our creator lovingly and masterfully orchestrates the events and experiences of our lives. We have a limited view and therefore a limited understanding of what is best for us. His view is all-seeing, unhindered, and therefore He can plan best for us. Without even uttering a word, our creator is so masterfully intelligent, so humbly capable of weaving our lives.

He is what humans have labelled "science." He is intelligence. There is nothing He cannot accomplish. There is no such thing as "nothing" to Him because He has created everything. That is certainly the entity I would like to have my life held in their palm. He can ensure that our greatest growth, our greatest happiness comes into fruition with accuracy, planned from even before we were born.

He works and creates so divinely, competently, so swiftly, so perfectly that there are no traces, tangible, audible or otherwise of His labor.

8:27 Our creator, our Abba, knows us better than we even understand ourselves. He knows our hearts. He knows our spirits. The more faithfully we develop our relationship with Him, the more His perfect, compassionate Will is exerted into our lives. The Will we just spoke of: perfect and orchestrated since before our birth.

8:28 "All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." All things work together for good to those who love God because through their love and faith, they have welcomed His perfect Will into their lives; because they have joined in on His purpose of compassion. Anyone work in the name of compassion is aided and guided by Him. He loves to bless His children, He awaits our invitation to do so. He has elaborate plans for each of us, individually, specifically, it's our freedom to claim them or to not.

8:29-30 Abba knows us so well. He knows which of His children would eagerly and faithfully seek and find Him. Yet He still gave us the chance to make our decision to do so; we were not bound by His assumptions of who we were (even though He was right). He wanted all of His children to be given the chance to learn and grow and be better, stronger in faith, more generous in love and justice and He gave us earth to do so. 

Yet even before our births here, He knew us. Those with deeply compassionate and faithful hearts have been predestined for certain experiences, entrusted with responsibility because God knew they would fulfill these purposes, planned and tailored just for them. God truly cherishes, embraces and supports His children who realize and act on how instrumental they can be in promoting justice in the world, in giving love to those who need it, in bringing light to places of darkness.

8:31 "If God is for us, who can be against us?" If God has predestined us, and we have accepted our purpose, nobody and nothing can derail us. His plan is too perfect, entirely infallible.

8:32-33 God has put His full heart, His fill spirit His fill effort and will into those who have given Him their faith. He guides us through even turn in our lives, meets us at every peak, catches our every fall and is our solid foundation whenever we start sink, He is the pillar we lead on, the beacon we trust. Who can triumph over you when you are so perfectly protected and upheld? Nobody. Nothing.

8:34 You have nothing to fear. God has exemplified to us that His children rise against every enemy. His divine-intervention guides and protects our lives. Nobody can challenge His hands, so ensure that you've given Him the faith and trust to put your life in them.

8:35 Regardless the severity of tribulation we face in our lives, nobody, no thing, no idea can separate us from Him. With Him not only do we endure, we also achieve.

8:36 Psalm 44:22 expresses a truth of God's children: we confront injustice on a daily basis. It is our constant duty to inspire, and protect justice and compassion. Some people around us label our kindness as weakness, but we know that it is our strength.

8:37 Over every tribulation, over each adversary "we are more than conquerors through Him" who LOVES us! We have His power over every enemy and difficulty if we reach out and accept it.

8:38-39 Paul writes two of the most beautiful verses in the bible, reminding us of the most beautiful truths of our lives: "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God..."

With Him, and with Him within us, we are strong, we are brave, we are able, we are wise, we are alive. Nothing and nobody will ever come between you and the entity Who loves you most.

NT: Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 7

Epistle of Paul to the Romans 7:1-25

7:1-4 These first verses introduce us to the metaphorical concept of being espoused to God. Rather than a romantic arrangement, our espousal to God is a unification: our reintroduction into life, this time purposeful in spirit. What we "bear" in this relationship is our fruit: the products of our compassion. "Coupled" together, you can accomplish so much with God. As He strengthens your mind and guides your direction, your unification with Him brings blessings to your life and humanity.

7:5-6 Continuing the metaphor: before we connect spiritually with God, we remain connected to purposelessness. Paul explains that once we choose to walk with and for God, we officially and completely remove the tethers to our old way of life. It's fair and official that we unite with a more purposeful way of life.

7:7 Paul does not encourage people to embrace anarchy. He means to help us discern the difference between law vs. life. When humans establish laws, they are recommended guidelines that are often enforced (ideally) for the benefit of all people. Similarly, when God establishes laws, they are recommended guidelines (always) for the benefit of all people. We are not supposed to disregard these guidelines, rather God wants us to realize that we are so much more alive. We aren't here to simply follow laws or guidelines, we are here to live and express, to produce patience and inspire compassion. We are active participants in life: the quality of life here is directly influenced by who we are and what we do.

We shouldn't follow rules just because they are there; we should follow, promote, uphold and inspire the guidelines of life we believe in. We should awaken, realize that we each are a universe of life within ourselves. We are not just a body that follows laws, we have minds which create: paths and thoughts and ideas and opinions, happiness, opportunities... we are endlessly able. God has generously given us complexity, value, space and opportunity to learn and grow and become.

7:8-9 The guidelines imposed on us through government, life and scripture inform us. Once informed, we are responsible for how we follow and uphold those guidelines. Once we are informed, we cannot be guiltless. Without guidelines, we might be excused for our behavior; without free and capable minds, we might be excused from bad behavior. Yet we do have guidelines and we do have able minds and therefore we are responsible.

We must take responsibility for what we think, say and do.

7:10 Because we are responsible for our thoughts and actions, breaking a guideline (for example: being unkind and selfish when compassion was taught) results in culpability. Selfishness and unkindness cannot inherit eternal life; they are two weak to survive there.

7:11 Remember Paul's life, he transformed from evil to good. He had broken many of God's guidelines and was therefore on a swift path to infinite non-existence. Because he was capable of knowing better, he was responsible for everything he did.

Fortunately for us, Paul reawakened with atonement and compassion and accepted his responsibility to be purposefully compassionate.

7:12 Each goes hand-in-hand: that we follow these compassionate guidelines but also that we awaken to the capabilities of ourselves. We are so alive, so capable: we are the vessels through which so many blessings can enter the world. We waste ourselves and our life, we cheat humanity and nature, when we lethargically "go through the motions." Become purposeful, alert, active, perceptive. Know what you stand for and why.

7:13 Paul is working to connect the Old Testament and the New Testament. Recall that when we were introduced to him, Paul outright and violently rejected the connection between the Old Testament and the New. Paul is explaining to us that you can't half-follow, believing in one and not the other. They are intertwined. God gave commandments in the Old that are reinforced and enhanced in the New.

Paul realized that even though he said he believed in God, only listening to a portion of His message led him to not understanding the message and consequently acting on violence.

Try not to get lost in this; remember that Jesus was asked what is the most important commandment and He answered in Matthew 22:36-40 that the greatest commandment is: to love. To love God, to love others. All of these words in all of these pages are God's plea to us to simply love. If we understand that, we understand it all.

We can follow all of the rules ever created on the earth but if we do not love each other, it's all for naught.

7:14 Paul expresses the truth of all of us while we are on earth: although our bodies host our spirits, our souls, our bodies themselves are not yet spiritual. They are flawed are manipulable. Therefore we must be vigilant and active in letting our best-selves, our spirits, do the controlling. Meaning: awaken! Your mind is where you are truly alive, or truly inanimate if you're not in-tune and in control of it.

7:15 Paul again relates to us: sometimes we don't understand why we didn't react or behave or think better than we did in a situation. Sometimes we are upset with ourselves for having acted selfishly or angrily when we could have expressed patience and empathy. We make mistakes. And then we make more mistakes. Paul is showing us that it's normal to sometimes feel frustrated with yourself but remember that we have space and opportunity here to become better.

7:16 What is important is that when we realize we've made a mistake, we take responsibility of it and try to be and do better. It's important that we don't make excuses for ourselves or try to hide from the truth that we messed up. It can be painful to confront yourself and your mistakes but it ultimately leads to growth.

7:17 Paul explains that sometimes our best intentions are redirected by our emotions in the moment; and sometimes our emotions in the moment are not representative of our best.  For example: There are two thirsty people and only one glass of water. Person A might want to give the water to person B and might truly believe that it would be more kind to give person B the water... but instead drinks it themselves because their body desired it. We constantly face dilemmas such as these (varying in range severity). We don't always do what we hope we would do, and it's okay as long as we learn and grow from it.

7:18 Paul wants us to be aware that our bodies and our minds are not always connected. It takes work and faith to unite them. Our bodies are vulnerable to conditioning, ignorance, lethargy, greed... and so much more. Our minds are able to conquer over all of those things but we must enabled them to do so: consistently.

Paul is an experienced person, able to give us advice and to relate and empathize with us. Paul had committed many sins and mistakes but was able to climb out of them.

7:19 Paul expresses that he wants to be better and that he's disappointed in himself for falling short. Yet we must remember that God is with us and so willing and able to work with us as we journey toward our best selves.

7:20 We must work to not let our selfish emotions or ideas, unkind emotions or ideas, take over what we know is a better expression. We must take responsibility for our mistake and our weaknesses, understanding that while we are vulnerable to imperfection, we are also capable of rising above.

7:21 We will always have to balance our minds here on earth. Even when we know better, we are capable of making mistakes.

7:22 Paul's advice is that we remain aware and focused on our spiritual selves, our wisest selves. Our spiritual selves are intuitive of what is right and what is good. We must give control and muscle to the spiritual part of ourselves.

7:23 Paul reminds us that bettering ourselves is constant work, but work we should delight in: becoming focused, patient, fair, compassionate, honest.

7:24-25 I could not promote the words in this scripture if I had not personally experienced their truth in my life. Through my focus, faith and realization of my spiritual self, God has taught me so much. Our creator, impossible as it seems(!), has lead me, strengthened my mind, given me hope and opportunity. I've grown so much in wisdom: understanding the complexity within myself and humanity. I've been shown my purpose, our purpose as a collective group, and in fulfilling it, I do not walk alone. God constantly realigns us and guides us when we decide to walk His path.

He saves us from the slumber that is living life with lethargy and purposelessness. He awakens us to the universe we live in as well as the universe of ourselves. We are complex and deeply valued by Him as well as deeply important and instrumental to the world. We must realize that this is our opportunity to create ourselves and when we do, we open our eyes to a whole new world, a whole new earth, a whole new self, a whole new mind and spirit.

Yes, we make mistakes. He gives us the opportunity to turn our mistakes from stumbling blocks into stairs. He's ready to guide you, are you perceptive enough to see and hear His direction?

NT: Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 6

Epistle of Paul to the Romans 6:1-23

6:1 God is understanding and God is forgiving but we should never take this for granted. We can't have the attitude that no matter what we do, no matter what harm we inflict on another, we will be forgiven for it. God forgives us when we atone, when we feel wholeheartedly regretful for our mistakes.

6:2 We should be inspired by our opportunity to awaken, to reestablish ourselves. Rather than continue to fester in disorder, we should be grateful for our opportunity to leave it. We should never use anyone's forgiveness as a second chance to do wrong again.

6:3-4 This philosophy God brought to the world has given us new life, new breath in our lungs. A new and more pure way of living: with and through compassion and wisdom. The life of injustice and chaos has been replaced, buried. Why would we work to resurface it?

6:5-6 Jesus' life was symbolic of our own: that through compassionate living, we could break the chains of anger, impatience, greed, injustice and trade them for freedom and life. Freedom to love and value others as well as ourselves. Freedom to not be condemned or victimized by the inaction and ill-action of others.

His life gave us the courage and inspiration to release ourselves from a slumber of purposelessness; no longer able to be manipulated and conditioned by this world's inclination to procure wealth and power. He gives us the wisdom to see the value of life and then supplies us the tools to uphold it.

6:7 When you reject the corruptions of this world, you come alive in the  purity of the spirit.

6:8 Jesus' death on earth was representative of the official rejection of the expressions and characteristics which lead to death: greed, arrogance, vengeance, impatience, intolerance. If we understand that these things have been thrown out, we can also understand that the expressions and characteristics which lead to life: compassion, justice, wisdom and truth, have been officially instated.

6:9 Upholding these is now the purpose of our lives, the path which leads to life. Life different from the life we know here on earth. This life is infinite, untarnished, unchallenged.

6:10 Jesus came to establish that death was the end result of greed and injustice and life was the result of humility and justice. (You can either understand this literally or metaphorically but the upshot is the same: compassion is the order of this life.)

6:11 Paul encourages the recipients of his letter to do the same, officially reestablish themselves in life. Spiritual, infinite life, reached through humility and purpose.

6:12 As humans, we are all familiar with the emotions inside of us that cause us to express. Paul encourages us to not become slaves to our emotions. God wants us to be strong: of heart and mind, able to rise above our weaknesses and to always be just, humble and kind. Able to walk about from bad situations and people without succumbing to their chaos.

6:13-14 By God and His philosophy, we are given purpose: we are offered the opportunity to be an instrument through which His love and compassion and wisdom can come into the world. He can send, directly though us, so many blessings.

Conversely, when we are chaotic and purposeless on the earth, we become instruments of chaos and purposelessness. With wisdom and purpose from God, you can accomplish so much within yourself and within your world.

6:15 This verse asks: should we abuse our freedom? Of course not. We are on earth to create ourselves, to make decisions and establish our values and within the freedom to do so, we should appreciate the chance.

6:16 I love that we are taught to think with perspective, the stepping stone of all personal growth. God wants us to understand that how we behave and life is representative of what or who we serve. How we act is representative of the values in which we are firmly cemented. What we think and do is representative of what controls us.

You do not want to represent or be controlled by injustice, greed, deception or untruth. You do not want to be controlled by your worst emotions or thoughts. If our minds are our masters, let God awaken and reestablish your mind. Be representative of your best, of justice and patience.

6:17-18 Paul explains that we should be grateful for God's gift to us: our ability to be perceptive, compassionate and wise. Our ability to choose our own master: our spiritually-informed minds, if we are wise. Instead of being stuck in impatience, greed, and chaos, we are given the chance to see and appreciate the value in their opposites: patience, humility, order.

6:19 Our bodies are weak in that they are often temperamental, manipulable, selfish, anxious... capable of a whole host of emotions and  demeanor. We needed to be given a mind wise enough to supersede those emotions, to rise and survey with perception, wisdom, patience, and compassion. But wisdom abounds if we feed it, and therefore we must work hard to supply the sustenance: practicing focus, purpose, compassion, perspective, empathy in every moment. God gave us these capable minds.

6:20 Even when we are unfocused, unkind and impatient, freedom in righteousness if offered to us for free. We are constantly offered the opportunity to be and do better than we have been. It's a choice not a command, we are allowed to be whoever we want to be.

6:21 If you haven't already, you'll find that the portion of your life lived without purpose, patience, humility, faith and compassion were wasted, not having earned you or anyone else anything. The "fruits" of our labors are the products of what our actions and thoughts produce. When we are unfocused and unkind, our only fruit is death: we disallow the life of compassion, opportunity, inspiration, kindness, justice to die.

We think of death as finality after our lives here. Yet when are not actively, consistently purposeful in compassion, we allow or even promote death in many other ways. We thwart goodness by inaction or ill-action. Death to what goodness could have been had we been more focused in compassion. Our opportunity to be instruments is now and is imperative. Which master will you serve? A healthy, spiritual mind or a chaotic, selfish one?

6:22 When we work with God, we immediately begin bearing "fruit." The kindness within how we live transforms the lives of those around us and subsequently, the world we live in. When we live with focus and compassion, we are ready and able to promote, inspire and uphold justice and truth. Our minds are open to constant betterment: evolving in wisdom and spirituality.

6:23 What you derive from this experience on earth is your choice. Productivity in kindness is the path toward life. You can only inherit pure, infinite life if you can withstand its refining heat. A fish cannot swim in the air. You must be equip to live in a place of pure compassion in order to survive it. Prepare yourself here to be fully adapted there.

There is no place for injustice or greed after earth. To become proponents of those things is to choose to be extinguished: a person simply would not be adapted to the live that follows and therefore could not possibly survive.

Think of our lives on earth as a tree we must scale. The leaves are our final destination: a canopy on which to bask in the sun. If we do not adapt and learn to climb the tree, we remain at its base. Not as a punishment but instead as a result of our inaction, our lethargy.  Or perhaps we climb a little and rest on a branch: we always have further still to go on earth. We can always be better, more productive, more patient. Bask now in this life of instruction, this scaling of the tree, in order to bask in light and fulfillment later.