NT: First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 6

I Corinthians 6:1-20

6:1-2 Paul is working to help the Corinthians establish a sincere faith. For until the organizers understand themselves, their faith and become sincere and consistent in upholding it, they will be ineffective in helping others. Paul's advice is helpful to us as individuals also because a spiritual student must understand that although we have social systems here on earth, it is child's play compared to our spiritual responsibilities. We should be able and willing to diffuse difficult situations and disagreements without tantrums and lawsuits and anger. It isn't always possible but we should always work to resolve our own issues in sincere and concise ways. 

6:3 God is prepping us, is allow us to prepare ourselves, for greater responsibility beyond this earth. These lessons here, these life experiences, are meant to embolden us in compassion and creation. If we cannot handle these tasks here of maintaining friendships, relationships, upholding justice, lighting truth, how will we ever graduate?

6:4 There should be no one more qualified than you to solve your own issues. We should not delegate our work to people who are less capable of doing it. Spiritual wisdom is stronger, more agile than the knowledge and system of mankind. Let your faith discern avenues of escape from tribulation and routes to arrival at justice, compassion and truth.

6:5-6 It is unbelievable to Paul that a spiritual student, a child of God, a human cannot trust or organize themselves enough to handle the circumstances of their own lives. Is life sometimes difficult? Yes. Are we entitled to feel overwhelmed sometimes? Yes. However life is never more difficult than we can handle when we choose not to walk alone. We are never entitled to give ourselves over to other to control or fix... that privilege of standing back up is ours.

6:7-10 Paul is frustrated by the chaos and unkindness of humans who cannot resolve issues between themselves. For this reason we must not be stubborn and hypocritical, we must be open and sincere: able to accept when we are wrong, able to have patience and humility when we are right.

There is no gain, Paul explains, when a person chases wealth, desire, power, fame. Spiritual wisdom, compassion and sincerity are eternal, abundant, the value of life. 

All of God's children are loved and accepted. True, unkind behavior is not received by God. Discern for yourselves what behavior is unkind and what behavior is an expression of love (God's most valued commodity).

6:11 Never forget that we each, individual, work and grow and learn throughout life. We do not begin perfect, we do not reach perfection. Always remember that you also have room for improvement. Remember that you are fallible and let it remind you that so is everyone else. Remembering that you and others are not perfect is not an excuse for you or them not to do their best. It is a method for us to remember our humanity and our compassion so that our flaws do not become our character.

6:12 Our freedom on earth is not permission to do corrupt things or live unkindly. We the option of doing so because God is fair, but those things are not what we are meant for. Paul vows not to be a slave to the greed in the world. Likewise we should never give up the authority of ourselves. We should be in control of our patience, our growth, our wisdom, our humility.

Giving into the temptation of anger, greed, vengeance, jealously is the detriment of ourselves. Be in control.

6:13-14 We were created with love to create love. We were created with compassion to create compassion. We were not created without intention, meant and let loose to procure fame, wealth or power. The order of the Spirit, the compassionate intention of divine-nature will remain established and progressive toward its intention; corruption will burn up, disappear in its wake.

6:15-16 Think metaphorically here: God created our souls and our bodies for great accomplishments of love and justice and we should respect them as such. Our own bodies as well as others'. We become what we associate with and what we allow. This statement is not a judgement on a person or specific lifestyle but instead is an encouragement to be more productive, more integral to the whole intention of the universe. 

6:18-19 Our actions and interactions and thoughts define us. Respect yourself. Achieve. Create. God has create you, specifically, to reach your highest potential, your greatest happiness. You have the potential to be instrumental in the world. Awaken to your purpose. 

6:20 This experience of life on earth in these humans bodies was expensive in that for God to allow us this opportunity, He had to allow us freedom. With our freedom, humans have created terrible acts of injustice and corruption. Life is not a game; our actions directly affect others. Do not waste your time here, this is a complex experience within a complex world among billions of complex hearts and minds.

Without this opportunity, we would not have ever had the chance to grow or the chance to create our own values and selves. God paid a great price to give us this life, value it. Bask in it. Thrive and prosper in it.

NT: First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 5

I Corinthians 5:1-13

5:1-3 This message is about hypocrisy and arrogance. To be a sincere individual, a person's thoughts and actions must be aligned. Paul discerns that this group of people have a superiority complex against others and yet are making the same mistakes (and sometimes even worse) than the people they look down upon. 

5:4-7 Paul encourages this group to abandon their old ways of disrespecting others and to absorb this new message leaden with guidance for health and happiness. No organization, especially a spiritual one, can stand when its members are hypocritical, judgmental and arrogant.

5:8 Feast on truth and sincerity. Hold feasts of truth and sincerity. There is abundant opportunity in the word to be truthful, to defend truth, to interact and behave sincerely with the life and humans around us. Life is fascinating, intricately ethereal, when a person becomes focused rather than distracted. Focused on the value of life and compassion, truth and sincerity rather than material prosperity, personal wealth and fame, power and control. 

A spiritual student quickly realizes that humankind has no power over the earth and yet all of earth and life become their power when the student realizes they are connected with it.

5:9-11 Paul wants us to find a balance; he understands that in the world, we have no choice but to come across people whose values are different from ours. Our mission therefore is to be truthful and sincere with all people, through the lens of our compassion, yet not to encourage or support in anyway that which we oppose. 

Your life should be a living, consistent example of your view of the earth, humanity and your values.

5:12-13 Our judgement here is ineffective. When we look down on another person, we do not help ourselves and neither do we help them. Our most effective weapon against what we disagree with is to be a living option of how it can change.

God is attentive; He knows what is going on in the world and also within each individual's heart and mind. He wants us to trust that He is concerned and and is also always available to those who pray to Him, to those who pray for others, and even to those who we perceive to be entirely lost. Nothing is slipping past Him; every kindness is acknowledged, every evil is acknowledged. He's equipped to deal with both.

Our concern then is to be compassionate people and leave the dirty (and difficult) work  of judgement to Him.

NT: First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 4

I Corinthians 4:1-21

4:1-2 We each have the blessed opportunity to work with God while we are on earth. God entrusts us with the responsibility, the only thing we require in order to take it is faith in Him. The reason we need faith is because faith is our direct source of patience, guidance, wisdom and love. With God as our pillar, we are able to withstand any type of trial or tumult (a necessary ability as life on earth is complex and often difficult to navigate).

4:3-4 Through Paul we learn focus and we learn value. What is valuable is that we dedicate our compassion to others rather than to endlessly contemplate ourselves. When we live with purpose for the betterment of others, not only do we create who we are but we also learn about ourselves. It is doubly productive to live humbly and selflessly. 

Paul could have wasted a lot of time wondering and worrying about how he would be perceived (by God and other humans) but instead he remained focused on a purpose. Paul understood that internal complexities could be disentangled by living with purpose and determination. Paul was not concerned about reward or punishment; his focus was to be the best, most helpful person he could be and not worry about the end result.

4:5 Therefore, we should do ourselves the favor of releasing our anxiety. When we realize that we are valued, that we are a vessel with the potential to influence the world, we may focus on the fact that we have so much purpose to fulfill. In pursuing and fulfilling our purpose, we learn to value ourselves and not worry about what our actions are yielding. Why? Because we know that are doing our best, most purposeful work and we can trust that the universe is grateful but also encouraging and supporting of our efforts.

4:6-7 We must remain humble. We must always view our fellow humans as equivalent. Arrogance corrupts our spirits and ruins the lives of others. God has given to all of His children, and those of us with "much" should not be boastful about what we have...because we do not have it through any efforts of our own. Our existence here on earth was freely given and we are expected to give in the same manner. Give fairly, humbly, selflessly. 

This does not mean to empty your pockets and house for anyone who walks by...but instead means that when we see an opportunity to help somebody who needs what we are able to provide, we should freely provide it. There are many ways to help a person, we immediately think: monetarily, but also we can help through friendships and listening ears...in a myriad of ways we can impact somebody's entire life. 

When we work with God, with the universe, with this divine order that we barely understand, it works with us. When we lace our intention with its, our life is strung together expertly, seeking with calculation our greatest happiness. Our souls speak with the universe, It knows what we want but we must trust it, emulate its nature, in order for it to deliver. 

4:8 Paul is telling us to not be proud and comforted by fame, wealth or power. Instead, Paul revels as a misunderstood sojourning man without any physical possessions because of the spiritual wealth God has given him: the fame of being recognized and known so well by God as a kind soul and the power of working with the incredible force of the universe. When one has God they truly need nothing else...because He provides in more and ample ways than anything else ever could. 

A person can seem to have everything but although their surroundings are materially impressive, the inside of themselves is empty. Our souls crave purpose, are nourished by compassion and without the opportunities and outlets to express those things, we suffer greatly. A lonely person is a person with a soul which is not being nourished... Material possessions can never replace the light and love of having people to love, purpose to fulfill. 

4:9-11 Paul is not concerned with impressing people. Paul is concerned with returning to the universe all of the purpose, love and compassion that It placed in him. It does not matter what humans put him through, as long as he is focused in God, he cannot be deterred or harmed. God's children are alive, in every moment, even after earth. God's children endure all tribulations because they are impermeable. Nothing can break or even scrape the protective barrier God places over our lives when we allow Him to. God's children are very happy and proud to suffer for justice. The thought of sitting on a throne uselessly is painfully distasteful to them, they would never choose it. Rather a poor human with a purpose than a rich one without. 

4:12-13 God's children are ready and eager to get their hands dirty, to get to work. God's children look around the world and they see so many opportunities to help and guide and befriend and they immediately roll up their sleeves. A child of God labors in compassion, never rests, resists complacency. 

4:14-15 Paul's advice heeds them (and us) to not worry about supposed differences between each other. No matter how one conceives of the details of religion, faith or spirituality, the core purpose is the same. Paul encourages us to reject the seeming glamor of wealth and fame, to trade them for hard, lifelong work. Paul's warning is given out of love, he does not want any of us to experience a lonely or painful soul when what God offers is so rewarding and gentle and exuberant. 

4:16 Paul urges us to imitate him: to abandon what the world tells us is valuable and to open our arms to spiritual service. To friendship and travel and kindness, love, hope and empathy. To the hard labor of working every minute of every day to ensuring those things thrive on the earth among humanity.

4:17 Paul tells the Corinthians that Timothy will come to them as a spiritual guide. While we should never revere another person, we should be appreciative of the benefits others bring to our lives. Mindfully, we should consider others and others thoughts and reflect on them in order that we might improve our own (we can learn from others' accomplishments as well as mistakes, talents as well as shortcomings. Life is chock full of lessons!)

4:18-21 Paul explains that he will always recognize children of God by their humbly efforts. Paul does not wish to be received as a saint or somebody special...he is not impressed and nor does he believe that he is impressive. Rather he looks forward to meeting with those who have absorbed humility and will receive him gratefully as a fellow worker. Who we are is powerful. How we act, behave, interact and present ourselves is powerful. Our outward appearance and impressive material wealth is useless and we should never rely on it for contentment, happiness, power or entitlement.

NT: First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 3

I Corinthians 3:1-23

3:1-2 Spirituality is a journey. Bit by bit we build our spiritual perspective and faith. The intricate process of building one's spirituality requires patience, observation and introspection. Each person exists somewhere on this spectrum of faith and therefore in their understanding of the world. No matter where a person is on their journey, they are validated simply for being on it. 

Paul teaches us that what is true for one person might not necessarily be true (yet) for another. In the infancy of faith, it's important not to overload a person. There are vast complexities in humanity, on the earth and around the universe but in order to contemplate those ideas, a person must first understand life and God in their specific, individual lives. Once a person is familiar with the foundation, the concepts they apply to their lives can then be applied to broader scopes.

3:3 It's imperative that we understand the simple logic of spirituality because until we defeat the weaknesses in our minds and actions, we will always be defeated by them. Without patience and perspective we cannot advance in our spiritual journey (and neither can we advance in our lives). Paul encourages us to confront our... less admirable attributes because until we can quell and control them, they aggravate and control us. After all, how can one contemplate the existence of the universe when they have not yet learned to focus, to mentally retreat in observation and patience?

3:4 Paul highlights only one example but truly separation is rampant among humankind. In a symbiotic world, humans have ironically become determined to cut and neglect connections. It is a distraction to think in such a way. All around us, nature makes connections, strings climates and flora and fauna together. This is productive, selfless compassion at work. Rather than focus on difference, marvel at similarity.

3:5-6 Throughout the world are people who are working to bring compassion into the lives of others. They do this through religion, spirituality, art, friendship, through many avenues. Paul wants us to understand that life, light, love, inspiration all come from the same source. Different people dip their different buckets and then travel with them through different modes of transportation... but the buckets are filled with the same waters. The same creator has sent them forth. Moreover, despite all outward differences, we are the same inside. We express and emote the same, for the same reasons.

3:7 Our lives are uniquely, intricately tethered with out spirituality. Through and with it, we live our lives as planters. Our thoughts, actions, and interactions are the seeds we plant while we are on earth. We individually decide what we wish to grow while we are here. If we do not make focused, conscious decisions, our impact on the world is chaotic and possibly regressive. 

3:8 Any effort toward comapassion should be considering a joint-effort, even if it is different in nature than how you might have expressed it. We have the opportunity to work during our lives, real work: compassion. We do not work alone. We have fellow workers and we are fellow workers with God.

3:9  For we are instruments through which God's love, kindness, light and creation comes through into the earth and throughout humanity. God is not an authoritarian, He is a worker and our lives are most meaningful when we become workers with Him. 

How we interact with people, from the temperament we walk into a room with to the words we audibly express, we are impacting the people around us, their lives and then the lives they encounter. What we do truly does reverberate around the world. God wants us to realize our ability to change and shape and inspire the world.

3:10 We are responsible for what we do and what we do not do. The ideas and relationships we build while we are here are ours. We work together but we cannot rest while others build; the bricks we place matter.

3:11 We build on an already-established foundation. God, divinity, creation has determined life and its value and therefore our work (our lives) either align with it or work against it. Purpose and intention have been already been defined, creation and compassion are the journey and the destination. 

3:12-15 God's observation of our work here is like fire in that it can only eliminate that which is brittle. The strong, strong of faith, strong of heart, are not challenged by fire but are warmed and perfected by it. What is brittle? Greed, impatience, envy...unkindness is weak.

3:16-17 Your value cannot be measured. Through your faith and the life inside of you, God exists within  you. With your permission, He will defend and protect, guide and comfort you. He curated your soul with purpose, devotion and love and He maintains it in the same manner. 

I love the way Paul poses this question: in a way, he pleads with us to remember how much we are loved. Maybe we have forgotten, maybe we have not realized but love has encircled us since even before we came here. 

3:18 Pride and arrogance destroy our character and poison our souls. Nature is humbly brilliant. Likewise a wise person is humble in their observations of humanity and earth, understanding and respecting both the limits and abilities of being human. Thriving between them.

3:19-20 Our humility protects us against many internal monsters: greed for power, wealth and desire. God has determined that the cleverly greedy and powerful are foolish and life experience has given us evidence that He is right. 

3:21-23 It is important to God that we determine what is valuable to us, and He hopes that we will make the right decisions. For the treasures of love and comfort and guidance are eternally, abundantly provided to and by us. Look around, it is yours. Even that which is beyond your perception has been given to you.

NT: First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 2

I Corinthians 2:1-16

2:1 Spirituality cannot come with a superiority complex or "holier-than-thou" complex. Paul's urging for humanity to explore their relationship with divinity was born purely out of his hope that we each could find comfort rather than justification or exaltation. 

2:2 Paul wanted to ensure that everyone understood that not only did he not believe himself to be better than anyone, he was also quite aware that he really was not and did not want anyone to make the mistake of thinking differently. Paul's protestation is that the only wisdom he claims to have is given, sustained and inspired directly by God.

Paul does not wish to convert or impress anybody to what he thinks. He wants to humbly speak of his experience and let God's compassion and wisdom yield the results.

2:3-4 Relating to every human being alive (ever) Paul explains that he is and has been weak and fearful. He isn't perfect and polished or infallible. Paul reminds us of this because his testimony is not an invitation to a selective group from an exclusive club: it's an honest, humble man's experience with trusting the universe.

2:5 Faith in the power of God means to have faith in the divine circumstances which brought you and this universe into being. Whether or not we understand why or how or when, life abounds miraculously around us with order and purpose. We have life, significantly measurable life and we should allow ourselves to continue to be projected through it, because of it and within it. 

2:6 Ironically, sometimes the more seemingly powerful or knowledgeable humans get, the less and less they trust or acknowledge the simple truths around them. Well, if this applies to us, we need to get off of our "high horse." Everything humans think, do and create has already been allowed and created, and divinely so, by something else. Real power, real wisdom, real wealth cannot be materially or geographically procured. Wisdom is in our purpose here and our purpose here is in compassion.

2:7-9 The truths of the world are so abundantly prevalent: everything and one around is a living, intricate series of complex miracle. The beauty of and in the world was not conquered or purchased. Similarly, true beauty in our lives cannot be conquered or purchased. 

We have to become perceptive, observant, curious, introspective. For although wisdom and life and beauty exist abundantly and consistently around us, we take it for granted in the pursuit of our desires. At least to some degree, each of us forgets that we are made up of the natural earth and material we manipulate to make our houses, cars, technology, food...that not only can we live without any innovation of our own, we can also thrive without it. Life has been provided for us. 

Through introspection and honed, natural perception, we can learn to realize and find comfort in the fact that the universe has always bent and stretched and broadened and given itself to produce and sustain the very live within us, collectively and individually. We don't actually require anything: we were guided here and given life; it has been a long and arduous, loving and calculated process to get us here, it simply does not make sense that we would be abandoned upon arrival. 

2:10 Each spirit has the capacity and the yearning to remember, acknowledge and reassume trust in its origin. The universe has chosen and birthed us but has done so generously, humbly: we are not required to chose it. For those who do, it seeks us in return: pulls us toward home as we walk toward it. A mutual effort of reunification. 

2:11 We are known, intimately. Humans have the limitation of only knowing ourselves (and even that we're not great at). The universe knows us but also knows itself: therefore what we are proffered is truth. 

We can't always trust in our own knowledge because our brains are tools that have been provided by another's knowledge. A greater knowledge. This verse is meant as a comfort: the universe around us is so wise, so trustworthy that only it can understand itself. Humans are not able to attain that level of compassion and wisdom, which is why we often struggle with existentialism. 

2:12 Yet the Spirit of the universe envelopes us, waves "Hello!", hopefully expectant at being greeted in return. We don't have to earn its acknowledgement or its love. We are the offspring of the universe, a manifestation of the life it has and projects. 

2:13 The love and wisdom and compassion of the Spirit, of the universe, of whatever manifestation of divinity a person believes in, cannot be articulated or transcribed (sure, speaking and writing can be avenues to journey toward them but...) they must be felt.

So we cannot get caught up in the grandeur of religion or religious institution or custom. We should not allow ourselves to be mesmerized or controlled by another's eloquence because the message from the universe is a simple one, a humble one, a modest one: value life. And that can only be done without pretentiousness. 

2:14 Alignment with the wisdom of the universe can only be done through spiritual introspection. Yet spiritual introspection can be done through a myriad of mediums: art in all of its forms, relationships and friendships with others, the contemplation of life and self and animal and plant. 

Without a connection with nature, a person is foolish because that person has neglected their origin, their purpose. If we neglect nature we are vulnerable to finding value in the things which corrupt it.

2:15 A spiritual soul is an inquisitive soul, a soul which seeks the depth and intricacy of all things. A soul so wise as such is not readily understood by those in the world who have muted their inquisitive nature. For example: a spiritual soul is a soul at peace, and in such a disparate and tumultuous world, peace of mind is rare to come by. A spiritual soul has it, constantly, despite and in spite of its seeming impossibility.

2:16 We do not understand the function or origin of divinity or universe itself but it's nature has been made known to us. Its plan and purpose includes us, is proffered to us and awaits our acceptance of it.

NT: First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 1

I Corinthians 1:1-31

1:1-3 A hello from Paul to whoever in the world or reading this text believes in that which God promotes: natural, patient wisdom and humble love. From even the beginning of his conversation he wishes for our well-being, our peace and for Godspeed in our lives. There is a specific serenity we gift the world when we begin each conversation and encounter with such intentions for those around us.

1:4-5 Paul recognizes and acknowledges the blessing that it is to find and be among people who are filled with love and compassionate purpose. He is grateful to God for providing the strengths, outlets and opportunities for His children to thrive. The truest happinesses are gifting happiness and observing delight and joy in others, Paul is grateful for this life which allows those circumstances. 

1:6-7 When this natural, patient wisdom and humble love is planted inside of you, your soul takes root. The establishment of these values gives us access to certain gifts, abilities and opportunities to change the world on both small and large scales. Our faith is the spiritual-umbilical cord through which our souls our nourished. The wider and stronger it is, the more we receive and are therefore able to give.

1:8-9 We put our faith in God but we often do not realize that God puts His faith in us, too. He trusts us to become and to create. When our faith in Him and His faith in us align throughout our lifetime, the culmination of that faith is a joining. A permanence. A solidification. 

1:10-11 Paul wishes that we not become distracted by categorization and minute differences (when we review the conditions of our globe, this advice is quite ironic). If God is the destination then there are many qualified, able and beauty modes of transportation through which to reach Him. He enabled our differences because they inspired His creative hand, yet in the core of each of us is the DNA of Himself, our souls. It is regressive for us to separate ourselves based on nonessential details. So many focus on what people do and how people do it when the only thing that matters is why. Anyone with good intentions, no matter how they are displayed or expressed, is a child of God...a valued member of the same family.

1:12-13 If we come from the same base, the same core of creation, the same tree, each branch is connected and relevant to the rest. 

1:14-16 Paul does not wanted to be distracted by reverence; he knows Who (or What) he and all souls come from. 

1:17 Happily, gratefully and purposefully, Paul accepts his purpose: to be a living testimony of the Spirit and the Wisdom which changed and subsequently saved his life. Humbly he traverses the world, not of any gain for himself but for others.

The reason why Paul's humility is imperative and instructive is because arrogance distorts perspective and perverts the truth. If Paul had become fascinated with himself, his testimony would not have been a selfless reassurance of God's presence and abundant love.

1:18 The messages within this book are sometimes disregarded. Paul wants us to understand that disregarding creation's intention of compassion and life is foolish because well, swimming against the flow is really difficult and altogether fruitless.

1:19 Humility produces while arrogance disassembles. Our humility uncovers and allows for growth in the places we can improve ourselves. Arrogance blinds us from our flaw and therefore never provides us the opportunity to become and to grow.

1:20 Essentially this verse calls us to perceive the truth that no wisdom or eloquence on earth can match or challenge God's. Humanity as an entire species is beautiful, capable and also fallible. God, however a person conceives of divinity is everything, even the creator of beauty and capability. The creator of the possibility for beauty and capability. We should find comfort in our humility rather than arrogance in ourselves because it has been through humility we have received all things.

God has revealed to us, through these words but also through our experiences that unkindness and injustice is foolish. Creation's intention has always been and will always be the promotion of life and therefore anything working against that intention is foolish.

1:21 And yet despite humankind's persistent flaws, God, creation, life has sought out the kindhearted, remained and guided those who do align with the creation's intention. Yes there is confusion here, yes there is chaos and injustice but God knows that His children are capable and willing to diminish those things. He places His faith, His trust, His heart and His spirit within us to meet our abilities.

1:22-24 As history and experience has shown us, the specifics of scripture can be argued endlessly. The differences between religion and spirituality can be profound. Yet in many ways, we find what we look for and if in every ideology we seek to find good intention, the details begin not to matter. Humans can manipulate things and people to be perceived in certain ways and even sometimes humans unintentionally influence things and people. The point is that you can basically make any text or scripture read how you want it to but when we observe the earth and life that it represents: we find truth. When we observe creation all around us, life thriving and bursting in various forms, we can discern the intention of the universe. To have life. To give life. To sustain life. To spark joy. To inspire innovation. Our earth is a looking glass into infinity. Infinity looks back on earth, on us, confirms and constantly bursts new life.

So as humans, it's important that we not become tangled up in proving each other wrong or even in proving ourselves right. The many manifestations of life require that there be many manifestations of ways to define and observe it. At the end of the day, it is the same divine wisdom which has calculated the possibility of this world and if we're listening, it instructs us every day: humbly, subtly, profoundly.

1:25 Our talents and abilities and knowledge added up together still cannot make an earth. We cannot build a universe. Wisdom, Creation, Divinity, God is and is the creator of the very elements with which make up our soul and organs and earth. Certainly are disagreements on earth are insignificant compared to that.

Life has decided that compassion is the way and who are we to contradict it? What is a pile of money compared to a universe? What is a material possession compared to the ensured safety of a child? What is power when a weak heart grows strong? The beauty in the world that kindness, justice and freedom create puts the ideals of the world to shame.

1:26 God is not looking for the arrogant, the wealthy, the powerful, the bold. God is watching for His children who are humble, removed from desire; He looks for His children who are perceived or treated as weak and timid and He makes them strong. To the human who is thought of as poor He gives wealth incomparable: patience, wisdom, love, guidance, protection, hope, and joy. He sees beauty in the disregarded, value in the trampled-on, ability in the insecure and He reaches in and pulls it out to shine.

People who are prideful believe that they cannot be improved and for that reason they never do improve. Narcissism works to strip all humanity out of them, and is effective in doing so. The consequences are grave. Wake up every day and think about all the beauty and patience and wisdom you still have left to learn; find value in life and love rather than wealth and power.

The rewards of compassion abound, rebound. 

1:27-29 The irony will be revealed: procurement of material, power, wealth and fame is fruitless. A barren tree. A soul cannot subsist on anything but life, and life is sustained by humility and compassion.

1:30-31 Remember that what is important to believe in is what Jesus manifested: patience and love, faith and compassion. Anyone who has those qualities in their heart has everything. Has God. Has life and love. It's not about the particular man Himself... it's about the message. The message that is taught in many different ways, through various mediums, abundant even in every natural thing around us.

NT: Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 16

Epistle of Paul to the Romans 16:1-27

16:1-2 Paul begins to close his letter to the Romans, making special comments to people who have helped him along in his journey. Our acknowledgment and gratitude toward those who work with us to create, inspire, protect and restore compassion on the earth is essential to our productivity here.

16:3-4 Commendations are given to Priscilla and Aquila who are "fellow workers" among Paul in God. This is how we kind find order and purpose in our lives: to be fellow workers with creation. To create: light, happiness, friendship, compassion, hope, opportunity, strength and so much more in the places and people who require it.

16:5-16 We are a system. Together we can build each other up, become more capable and can extend beyond personal limits. Our connections here are meaningful and every interaction is instrumental to our impact on the world. Paul is particular in his gratitude toward those who have helped him but also toward those who tirelessly help others. He recognizes their value. 

16:17-18 Paul cautions against living without compassionate direction. When our intention is driven by procurement we neglect the health of our selves, the wellbeing of others and the condition of the world. This doctrine, this Bible, guides us on the way to be and remain patient, wise and purposeful. Paul cautions us against derailing from it not because he wants us to fear some kind of punishment but because knows how detrimental it is to our lives when we live contrary to it. 

When you do not live for others, you fail in either of two ways: 1) You live for yourself; 2) You live for nothing. The reason is because when you care for others, you realize your own value by the limitless ways in which you can enrich their lives. You realize your own impact on the world. However when you live for yourself, you neglect the vital human connections which spark true life. Some people even abuse them: with anger, vengeance, greed, impatience, intolerance. Similarly, when you live for nothing, you neglect your purpose. We are each bound here with purpose but that tether loosens if we ignore it and we become unmoored, lost, directionless, held in a slumber: what we could have done for the world, who we could have been becomes obsolete. 

Paul also reminds us that our actions and words can hurt others, even inadvertently. We have a blessed opportunity here to make sure that what we are speaking to the world and humanity, through our words and actions, is beneficial to those around us. 

16:19 A reminder that we must align ourselves everyday with what life, light, love and creation have taught and are teaching us. We must work everyday to cultivate humility and compassion, to be simultaneously aware of both our strength and our fallibility. 

16:20 This word: Satan, is representative of many things. It represents our adversity as well as our adversaries, our weaknesses as well as our insecurities. Whatever, whoever troubles you will be removed from you. While on earth, God helps us to navigate these bumps and even teaches the wisdom to avoid them (if we are listening and avid students). After earth, those bumps do not even exist. 

Remember that bumps exist here because this life is a landscape of freedom, learning and choice. Humans are given the earth to create themselves but some people choose to create bumps instead (for themselves and for others). 

After earth, each person has created who they are and what they stand for and those creations either align with life after earth or they do not (and therefore cannot exist). Meaning: no bumps.

16:21-24 Greetings are returned to Paul for his compassionate work. May the grace of God be with all of His children and fellow works indeed because there is so much good to do.

16:25-27 God has given us this earth and these souls which spark and house the life inside of us. The wisdom and compassion with which He has created us and the world is revealed to us for our benefit: spiritually, emotionally, purposely.

NT: Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 15

Epistle of Paul to the Romans 15:1-33

Paul is giving us a crash course in reaching deeply into our humanity.

15:1 Our time on earth is finite and its finite-nature makes our time precious. So why would we waste time arguing and disagreeing with each other, overlooking the meaning of life?: to love and support and become inspired by life in all of its manifestations. The life within each human, the life within each human's expression, the life within plants and other animals. Life within thought and innovation and possibility.

Who among us is infallible? When we see a weakness within another person and Paul refers to spirituality specifically, we are not meant to exploit it. If at all possible, we are meant to humbly strengthen that person. How do we strengthen another person? We live our lives with love and respect and we become a living, breathing, modest testimony. We become a friend and a pillar to anyone who asks for our support. 

15:2 God wants us to look for the beauty within individuals. To find another person's beauty, a part within their mind and soul that is kind is to be kind enough to look beyond their flaw. It does not mean to trust everybody or to automatically excuse an evil act or word. To find the beauty in another person is a way and perspective of life itself: of humanity and the globe. It is to not overlook fallibility and mistake but to think more broadly...it is to see the constant balancing people and humanity are working on and to find hope within.

15:3 Jesus' example was to be humble. Not only was He humble, but He was also pure compassion: he accepted that we are flawed but more than that He absorbed us into Him, flaws and all. He opened His door, He proffered His heart and His guidance to anyone who sincerely wished to have it and to work with Him toward betterment. He reveled in diversity; He loved without partiality.

15:4 Jesus' life of teaching extends, alive, even through our generation now. From these blessed words Life encourages us to draw wisdom, comfort, patience and hope from it and into ourselves. For it teaches us to cultivate patience, wisdom and comfort within ourselves. And quite simply: we cannot give to or navigate the word without a strong internal self. Without a patience self. Without being able to see and feel the hope that thrives here on earth.

15:5-6 You might wonder: How can 7 billion+ people have one-mindedness? Yes, there have been and are billions of people on earth and yet each has shared the experience and hum of Life. We each know the joys and the afflictions of life: fear versus safety, illness versus health, love and hate, and all their grey areas. Knowing those things, we each share an intention, we each share a hope. Creating, sustaining and celebrating the joys of life, diminishing, protesting the afflictions is our one-mindedness. Awakening to our purpose, sustaining and celebrating life in all forms and functions and cultures and niches is an awakening to our one-mindedness. It is to transcend beyond and above the cyclical, nonsensical obsession human's have on categorizing each other. 

15:7 Receive each other. Welcome people by realizing and becoming inspired by the life processes within them. Much of the world is chaotically busy, arguing and drawing national and regional lines over irrelevant differences, why join in the lunacy when you could awaken to life and purpose?

15:8 Jesus came as a servant. Everyone seems to ask, existentially: why are we here? We are here for each other. Jesus came to cut away the confusion, to clear the flog of greed and selfishness and purposeless in order to reveal our purpose in light and love. We serve each other. What's on your serving tray? Is it kindness, is it hope, is it patience? Or is it something for yourself, not contributing equally to others?

Jesus came to reveal to us the Life, Love, and Light around us. To confirm that we are held in wise and careful Hands. To give us comfort and direction if we allowed ourselves to be enveloped and guided. He came to reassure us that we are not random, that the creation of this earth and all life within it is not happenstance but instead has been carefully, lovingly crafted.

15:9-13 God works to grasp our attention and He always has. From the very beginning He has wanted us to know and find comfort in His presence. In anyone's life who is willing, who is listening, who is knocking, He is going to make Himself known. He promised to love and guide each of us, regardless of anything. 

15:14 We put our faith in God but we forget that He puts His faith in us too. He trusts us here on earth to be and do our best, to be purposeful in compassion. He has allowed us to fill ourselves with His knowledge and to use it for the betterment of others. 

God trusts us to take His advice into ourselves and into our interactions with others in order to become better, mutually with each other. Our lives are our instruction: our lives speak of the way we believe life is the most fair. We must ensure that the message we are proclaiming to the world is focused and purposeful. 

15:15 Paul is reiterating the core points within God's instruction. Guiding and encouraging us to remember that the foundation of everything He is and Has created is life and compassion. At a minimum, we should be contributing to those things. 

15:16 Paul came to remind us that we are each God's children, that the differences we see are not acknowledged by God.

15:17 Notice the wisdom and trust in Paul's words: Paul allows God to lead him, to appoint him in specific places and positions where he can contribute and do the most good. Paul is inclusive: his purpose is to include all of God's children.

15:18 Paul simultaneously acknowledges his own fallibility and therefore is aware and cautious of the ways he might veer from God's path. We all work toward betterment, we don't begin or even finish the race here perfect. Yet when we journey to do good and to be purposeful, we journey toward fulfilling our best. When we do our best, we have lived as perfectly as is possible.

Paul reminds us that he does not teach of his own wisdom but of what wisdom He has received from God. Our arrogance contributes to our detriment. Simple wisdom guides us expertly through life. "Obeying God" is not translated well. We join God we align ourselves in accordance with His will, His goodness, His purpose and compassion.

Note that Paul said "what I have said and what I have done." Both what you say and what you do must uniformly reflect each other. Your actions are as testimonial as your words, if not more so. What you do corroborates what you say.

15:19 It is Paul joy and purpose to join people with God, to ensure that everyone realizes their eligibility for His love and wisdom and guidance. In that way, Paul's compassion is exemplary and deep. Paul devoted Himself to ensuring that others could have what had been given to Him by God. Paul abandoned selflessness and redirected himself from purposelessness and for whose benefit? Not his own: Ours.

15:22-24 Paul is writing heartfelt, detailed, passionate, spiritual letters because he is so busy that even those he wishes to, he cannot reach every place by foot. He cares so much for all people that he skips none. Paul finds ways to reach each crevice and city and person on earth that God has given Him access and the ability to. 

15:25 Paul promises to visit in person and then speaks of his (full) itinerary. 

15:26 We owe each other what we have to contribute. Contributions come in many forms. We can contribute by giving our friendship, by sharing our food, by sharing our insight. 

15:27 Moreover we should be pleased to contribute. We should realize we owe each other our compassion. We share life, we share spirituality, we are kindred spirits and we should treat each other as such.

15:28-29 When and wherever you go, go with the full measure of the blessing of God. Allow Him to propel you into happiness and purposefulness, joy and compassion.

15:30-31 The most valuable thing we can ask each other for, and ask for each other, is for God's presence in our lives. Join each other in prayer and in all good things. Paul is a promoter of compassion and justice and therefore he constantly confronts injustice and evil.  We are given the strength to do so by God and God maintains our ability to retain that strength through prayer, through faith. The more interconnected our faith and our compassion is, the more we accomplish together.

15:32 Refresh each other. So simply, so sweet, so easy to do and so effective.

15:33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.