Spiritual Union
Greetings and good morning, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly Father has revealed many spiritual truths to me, and I want to share them with you. This morning we seek to understand the meaning of the spiritual union.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Spiritual Union
““Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”” Genesis, Chapter 2, Verse 24
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast we consider spiritual union. Using a material analogy, we shall show how this comes about. Let us begin:
Joel was the son of a local contractor who was well known for his efficiency and quality of his work. At an early age Joel showed great promise in science and mathematics. When he was three, his mother often found him counting the number of windows in the house. And he would ask such questions like, how many windows would there be if he doubled the number of windows, and what effect would having more windows in the house have on the amount of light that came through those windows?
When he started school, Joel soon came to the attention of his instructors and was soon doing advanced work even in elementary school. And there were some who thought he should skip middle school altogether, but his mother wisely vetoed that, saying that even though Joel was intellectually ahead, emotionally he was not. She felt that he should remain with his peers and pursue the normal progression through school. She did give the okay for him to do advance work though.
But before Joel could enter high school, his father was given an opportunity to become a regional contractor. He would be able to take on projects much larger. But this opportunity required that he relocate, and so after talking it over with his family, a decision was made to move. So Joel and his family moved to another area of the country. This area was several states away, and Joel entered a high school in that state. It did not take long before his instructors took note of his intellectual brilliance. They arranged for him to enter the university on a part-time basis, where he could pursue advanced study of science and mathematics. They expected great things in the future. Perhaps he would even solve one of the outstanding mathematical or scientific problems.
Joel completed his high school work, graduated and enrolled in the university full time. He was admitted with advanced standing, and was soon involved in the study of advanced problems in science and mathematics. One of the courses that caught his interest was the "Physics of Music." And he enrolled in that course when it was offered the following semester.
Jorel was the daughter of a career military officer, and she had traveled all over the world by the time she was fourteen. Her mother was a music teacher, and Jorel had early shown an interest as well as a talent for music. She really loved her mother and wanted to be just like her. All of her life she wanted to be a music teacher just like her mom. When she was 16, tragedy struck and her mother died suddenly. The autopsy revealed that she had a cerebral aneurism that suddenly burst. Now this was quite a shock to Jorel and caused her to enter a deep period of depression, but she finally emerged from the depression. And she emerged even more determined than before to become a music teacher like her mom. And even though her mom was gone, she would make her mom proud by becoming the best music teacher that was possible for her to become. Her father retired from the military 2 years later, and settled near a town that was very near to the university that Jorel wanted to attend. It was the same university that her mom had attended. One of the first courses that she took was "The Physics of Music."
It just so happened that this course was being taken by Joel at the same time that she was taking it. Very early in the course they met when Joel and Jorel were attending a social event. They recognized each other immediately and begin talking about the course they were both taking. Very soon their interest in each other deepened and almost without their conscious knowledge, they began seeing each other exclusively. Their attraction to each other was magnetic, and soon they sat down one evening and held a momentous discourse.
They both recognized that their feelings for each other had reached a point where a decision had to be made. At this junction, would they follow the natural course of their relationship or would they recede from it and move on? They wanted to make this decision in their relationship with their eyes open, so to speak. As they talked, the conversation gathered momentum in the direction of their continuing their relationship on a higher level. Both of them realized that the thought of them going separate ways was an intolerable thought. This being the case, there was only one decision that made sense. They decided that they would become engaged. But first they wanted their families blessings. First, Joel went with Jorel to meet her Father and asked for his daughter’’s hand in marriage, the marriage to take place after they had both completed their education. After much discussion about the responsibilities of marriage as well as its privileges, he gave his consent.
Next they went to visit Joel’’s parents, who also happened to live in the same town as the university. Joel’’s parents were tremendously impressed by Jorel. They were impressed with her ladylike qualities, with her sincerity, and her loyalty. They learned the story of her mother’’s tragic death and how that death had had the effect of making her even more determined to become a music teacher like her mom. It was a really delightful meeting, with Jorel stealing the hearts of Joels’’ parents. They gave a hearty yes to the request for Joel to marry her. The wedding date was set and in due course they married. And it was a wonderful occasion for both Joel and Jorel, for they had found each other.
Now we can see that Joel and Jorel’’s coming together involved a series of circumstances and decisions that were made. Each decision was cumulative and had the effect of driving them closer and closer together. At any point in this process, there was always the chance that a different decision could have been made that would have taken them farther and farther away, rather than closer and closer together, finally ending in marriage. In looking back we can see how the decisions and circumstances led them to this happy ending.
And looking back we can also see how our decisions led us to the point where we are involved in our life’’s work, happily doing the Father’’s will. How did we get to this point? How did we reach that state where became one with the Father through His Son, Jesus? How did we achieve this spiritual union? We can see now how all the decisions, the detours, the circumstances all led to this one point. And we can also see that only those circumstances, those decisions, those detours could have led us to this point where we recognize and approve the divine plan for our lives. In fact, all of these circumstances, decisions, detours which the Father has seen in advance become necessary to the fulfillment of his divine plan for our lives. We can see that it is best that we proceed in ignorance concerning the details of our lives if we are to be successful in realizing the divine plan, for this ignorance prevents our falling into the two-edged trap of acting prematurely or acting slowly. Either course of action would jeopardize the divine plan for our lives. What a marvelous affirmation of that great spiritual law: All things work together for good for those who love God and choose to do his will. When we trust the Father and do his will, great things can and do happen.
This concludes today's message on understanding that meaning of the spiritual union. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Your Kingdom Come; Your Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages
By Dr James Perry
Spiritual Union
