Leviticus 14:1-57; Mark 6:30-56; Psalm 40:1-10; Proverbs 10:11-12
“Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things…. They still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.”
“I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord…. Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand —
you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings.”
“Their hearts were too hard to take it in.” Is there a sadder line in all of Scripture? Jesus wants to teach us a new way of thinking, a new way of seeing His world. He wants to give us abundance before we even ask for it. He wants to put a song on our lips and in our hearts. People will be amazed at the Lord’s power to lift us up and steady us. But somehow, the Spirit has to make us listen before we will understand. Otherwise, we miss it all, even with blessings right in front of us. Because we are a hard hearted bunch….
God doesn’t want our external gifts and sacrifices if they do not represent an offering of ourselves. He wants our hearts, completely, all or nothing. He knows – and we should admit – that we have never fully trusted Christ until we have allowed Him in the very center of our lives. Until His Spirit can work on us from the heart out, we are no more than interested observers at a hockey game who don’t quite grasp what is going on. We can still appreciate and wonder at the great plays and talents of those who are actually in the game, but everything we see leaves us personally unaffected and strangely cold.
Christianity is not a spectator sport. It is, in a word, transformation: recovery and renovation from the inside out. Whatever is not Christ at our center has got to go, and we have to be willing to let it go. Jesus is like an architect/builder who has to tear down some interior walls before He can remodel and improve the home. We are like homeowners who cannot (or worse, will not) read the plans and so can’t appreciate or accept the beauty of their (our) design.
When I look at all the things that separate me from Christ, they all come down to one thing – a hard heart that resists remodeling. I hold back my heart even knowing, absolutely, that His way is best. I stubbornly refuse to follow His plans. Consequently, I miss much of the beauty of the life He actually created me to live. No wonder David implored God to, “Create in me a clean heart, oh God!” Transformation begins with the heart, or it doesn’t begin at all.
1 comment:
Hi Thomas, glad to see you are still keeping up with postings. I mentioned a while back about our church struggling and I was unsure of how to move forward. Well I am now in charge of the Staff Parish Relations committee and it is ugly. I am sure this is never a very fun job but the same pastor is still here and the people who couldn't stand him (and his wife) have left, and the ones who love him are supporting him and the ones that love the church are complaining. Everyday I think of your words when I asked you about this before...as long as he's a christian and teaching christian principles everything will be ok. At one point I even went to him and asked him point blank if he was a christian. His actions are the stuggle...often gloomy, makes off color comments, obcessed with his age and his attractiveness to other women and won't manage. He and the secretary are fueding and the latest is over how many people are in church...they come up with different numbers...214 vs 240?!?!? And he refuses to be her boss and sit down and sort out where the problem is. Instead he wants her fired for insubordination. He is supposedly leaving in June but begrudgingly. There are questions as to whether he is reappointable...would you want this guy at your church? Any thoughts as I want to do the right thing but not sure I want to suppport kicking him out of the UMC altogether. Secondly our Sunday School class is doing well...20 members and about 10 each week. Lena keeps coming up with mission work for us to do and we have a pastor on leave of absence leading us. I think about your influence and focus...what does God want and I am trying to instill it in our church. Slow process at best but I refuse to let the negativity of all this suck me in to emotional reactivity...even though its hard. Focus on God right? and love your neighbor? Thank God for CFC! gIHw Thom
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