Remember what it says: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts….”Hebrews 3:15 (NLT)
We all know about heart disease. Exercise and healthy eating is what keeps our heart and arteries from getting hard and crusted over until the blood can’t flow freely through our bodies. When we are motionless and continually take in unhealthy things, the opposite occurs occurs. Our arteries harden, blood can’t flow properly, and we eventually die when the heart can’t operate.
So it is with our spiritual hearts. When we remain spiritually sedate and feed our souls on selfishness, greed, anger, hatred, gluttony, gossip, and the like, then God’s life giving Spirit gets choked out and can’t flow. There is a build up of muck in our soul and our heart eventually becomes spiritually hard, constricting the ability to feel and hear God’s Spirit within us. When God tries to call to us, we are deaf to His still, small voice.
Today, I’m not only thinking about my physical health, but my spiritual health as well. I want my heart, both physically and spiritually, to be healthy. I want to feel Life flowing strong and free within my veins and my spirit.
For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15 (NLT)
This past Saturday night Wendy and I hosted a dinner party for a handful of friends. It wasn’t anything fancy schmancy. We simply made a light dinner with some sandwiches, chips and a few bottles of wine. Wendy made one of her fabulous cheesecakes for dessert. All day long we putzed around the house getting ready for our company. Wendy and I had truly happy hearts as we prepared for our evening.
As I read the above Proverb this morning, I was reminded of our friendly feast. It was life giving in both the preparation and the execution. So much so, in fact, that after the last guest left Wendy and I cleaned up and then found ourselves chatting until we had to remind ourselves that it was the wee hours of the morning and we both had obligations at church in a few short hours.
Each day, even busy Mondays, can be a life giving feast, or they can be a sorrowful, miserly spread. The difference is in the condition of my heart.
Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. Proverbs 2:4 (NLT)
It is just after the New Year as I write this. The television news programs are running their annual stories about getting organized and setting goals. The commercials are all about weight loss. The newspapers (those that are left) are running articles once again about setting resolutions and how to keep them.
What are you going to do this year? What positive changes are you going to make? How are you going to achieve your goals?
I’ve never been big on new year’s resolutions, but as I read the chapter today I’m reminded that even God’s Message calls us to make choices, to look to the horizon and set the way-point of where we’re headed, and to determine what we will seek after. Jesus told us that whatever we seek after we will find.
So what am I seeking after? What is it I’m driving towards? Proverbs urges me this morning to seek after wisdom, insight, and understanding as if it was buried treasure. Is that what I’ve been searching out? Does that describe my heart’s desire?
Today is a good day to do a little soul searching. This is a good time to adjust the GPS and recalibrate my position. Set the waypoint for wisdom. Chart a course for understanding. Search for insight on the horizon. Hoist the sails.
30 Day Blogging Challenge Day 25: Ten Ways to Win Your Heart.
Okay, I kind of dropped the ball on this 30 day blogging challenge. In case you missed it, please know that I did not write these questions! This challenge was created by some (young, I’m suspecting) person over at Tumblr. I’m in the homestretch, so I might as well finish.
Share a good meal with me
Write me a real letter (the handwritten kind that you put in an envelope with a stamp on it and put it in that little box outside your house for the mail carrier to pick up and bring to me)
Join me for a summer evening at the baseball game
Back rub (with special attention around those shoulder blades)
A thoughtful gift (need not be expensive)
Buy me a tall, cold pint and have a chat with me
Refrain from reminding me that I’m a Vikings fan (this season)
…lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you, a person who hears the words of the Covenant-oath but exempts himself, thinking, “I’ll live just the way I please, thank you,” and ends up ruining life for everybody.Deuteronomy 29:18 (MSG)
Much of the life-pain any of us experience can be traced back to the type of covenant breaking attitude expressed in this verse from today’s chapter. Moses was dealing specifically with the laws God gave him for the nation of Israel, but in any society the laws and social constructs are a covenant between the people and the community around them. I have both experienced this pain due to the wreckless attitude of others and have heedlessly broken covenant which has created considerable pain to others.
“I’ll live the way I please, thank you” breaking covenant with my community by getting drunk and then getting behind the wheel of a car to the endangerment of everyone in my path.
“I’ll live the way I please, thank you” breaking covenant with spouse by sleeping with another, thus wreaking havoc in expanding concentric circles of family, friends, community and society.
“I’ll live the way I please, thank you” breaking covenant by ending another human life, thus denying the being and the community to benefit from the touch and limitless potential good of that life, permanently diminishing my own soul and respect for life on the whole of the community.
“I’ll live the way I please, thank you” by refusing to work and contribute to society when I am perfectly capable of doing so, choosing to drain the society of resources as I drain my own soul of purpose and dignity.
“I’ll live the way I please, thank you” breaking covenant by turning a selfish eye away from the needs of others to focus on myself, thus expanding societal problems while reducing the health of my own soul.
“I’ll live the way I please, thank you” breaking covenant by cheating on studies, taxes, time cards, and/or responsibilities, thus slowly eroding my own character and breaking covenant with the community as a whole.
Our penchant for breaking covenant, in small ways or large ways, hurts ourselves, our loved ones, and our community. And still, we choose to do so. God made a covenant with human beings who could not, would not keep covenant with Him. Covenant, and our breaking of it, reminds us all of our need for grace and forgiveness – and our need of a saviour who will save us from our own selfish attitudes, words, and actions.
Give freely and spontaneously. Don’t have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God’s, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors. Deuteronomy 15:10-11 (MSG)
As a child my parents signed us up to provide food for Thanksgiving to a family who couldn’t afford it. I still remember driving with my mother to a section of town that we had always driven through. I remember the house with the run down porch and handing the bags of groceries, the frozen turkey, the cans of cranberry sauce and green beans over to a woman I did not know, whom I would never see again.
I remember my Great Aunt telling me of my grandfather. There were some terrible years after her divorce. Each time my grandparents drove the 200 miles to visit, she said she would clean her apartment the next week and find a fifty dollar bill on top of the refrigerator. Knowing that her pride would never allow her to accept a freely given handout, my grandfather would slip the gift on top of the refrigerator where it wouldn’t be seen until cleaning day.
I remember a friend who, just a few years ago, told me in a passing comment what a miser she considered me to be. It was said in off-hand jest, but I perceived the sincerity of the jab. She really does consider me to be miserly.
And there is the rub. On one hand is the legacy, passed on to me by previous generations, of grace and generosity which I so desire be and to carry on; the desire to be the person described in today’s chapter giving freely and spontaneously: open, purse, open hands. On the other hand is the reality of a sinful and stingy heart that others see and perceive in me and my actions. I feel constantly the tension between Jesus’ challenge to give everything away and my heart’s penchant for hoarding everything for myself.
Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Some days I am gratefully reminded that this is a journey and I have not arrived. I am not the person God desires, nor the person I, myself, desire. The work of molding and shaping is not complete. I am a work in progress. The key is to keep moving forward letting the regular motion of the journey keep my heart pliable like clay that is constantly worked in the hands of the potter. If I stop for too long and choose not to press on, then things sit and slowly begin to dry out and harden.
Make sure that God’s portion is the best and holiest of everything you get. Numbers 18:29 (MSG)
When I was a child it was a weekly customer for my family to dress in our “Sunday best” for church. Dad would put on a suit, mom a dress, and the four chidren would be dressed in our “nice clothes” for our weekly trek to Sunday School and worship. I can remember that blue jeans were an absolute no-no.
Somewhere in my high school years there was a shift in thinking. As I read God’s message seriously for the first time I realized that God was much more interested in the condition of my heart than in my Sunday wardrobe. I felt it hypocritical to dress up on the outside for church in a show of impressing God and others. What did God care if I dressed up my body if my heart was in rags?
I remember attending a different church one Sunday. I wore jeans to the service. At that time it was considered disrespectful by many people to do so. An older woman sitting in the pew in front of me turned around to introduce herself during the “meet and greet” part of the service.
“I noticed you’re wearing jeans,” she said with a smile and a wink. “Don’t worry,” she added. “It’s doesn’t matter what you wear. We’re just glad you’re here.”
Years later I still don’t really care about what others wear to church. It has been a long time since I put on a suit to attend a regular Sunday service. In fact, I would stand out if I did so. I wonder, however, if the pendulum has swung too far the other way in our hearts. I wonder if we have lost sight of the truth that God wants the best we have to give. Instead of giving God the first and best, we give God our leftovers. Perhaps our relaxed attitudes on the outside have translated into relaxed attitudes about the inside.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating going back to a Sunday morning fasion show. It’s not about the clothes. It’s the attitude and condition of the heart that is still the critical question in my mind. I want God to get the best of all I have to offer, not a portion of the leftovers after I’ve squandered the rest of my time, energy and resources.
It makes no difference whether he is a foreigner or a native, if he blasphemes the Name, he will be put to death. Leviticus 24:16 (MSG)
blas·pheme
/blæsˈfim, ˈblæsfim/[blas-feem, blas-feem] verb, -phemed, -phem·ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to speak impiously or irreverently of (God or sacred things).
2. to speak evil of; slander; abuse.
Those who faithfully read these chapter-a-day posts are likely sick of hearing me say that God is a God of metaphor. And yet, in our journey through God’s Message I am continually amazed at how deeply this truth is woven into the very fabric of life. Words themselves are metaphors. A word, whether spoken or written, is something which stands for something else without using “like” or “as.” God’s Message refers to Jesus as the “Word.”
Consider that each morning we wake up with a blank verbal canvas, and the words that we choose to utter become brush strokes which paint a metaphorical self-portrait; they paint a metaphorical expression out of our deepest thoughts, emotions, and beliefs.
Think about all that you did yesterday. Recall, as best you can, all of the words that came out of your mouth: the conversations, the exclamations, the idle gossip, the song lyrics you sang along with in the car, the curses under your breath, the complaints, the arguments, the demands, the insults, the compliments, the private moments, and the deragatory remarks.
What kind of self-portrait do those words paint? Would others look at a summary of the words that came from your mouth and say that it is a portrait of love? Anger? Contentment? Hatred? Dissatisfaction? Gentleness? Pride? Greed? Compassion? Lonliness? Humility? Fear? Patience? Anxiety?
God takes the word we use very seriously. In fact, I believe God takes them far more seriously than we care to think about.
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” – Luke 6:44-46
“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.” – Matthew 12:36
“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry….” James 1:19
I read today’s chapter and scratch my head at the extreme reaction God had towards one man’s curse. My first reaction is to think “how can God be so upset about words?” The longer I meditate on it, the more I hear God’s return question: “How can you so easily profane the power and meaning of words themselves?”
“All the fat belongs to God. This is the fixed rule down through the generations, wherever you happen to live: Don’t eat the fat; don’t eat the blood. None of it.” Leviticus 3:16-17 (MSG)
Many years ago I had a traffic accident and suddenly found myself without a car for a short period of time. A compassionate neighbor offered to let me have one of his cars while mine was in the shop. It was a kind gesture, but I was rather surprised when he handed me the keys of his new luxury sedan. He had a couple of older vehicles he could have given me, but he gave me the best he had to give. I was humbled and grateful. I’ve never forgotten his extravagant generosity.
In acient days, when Leviticus was given as the law, the “fat” of an animal was considered the very best part. When setting up the sacrificial system, God clearly wanted to the people to cheerfully and freely give the best portion of a pure animal to God. While the sacrificial system is difficult for us to wrap our cultural minds around, the word pictures given within the system are just as relevant for us today.
When we give to God, when we give to others, are our hearts open to giving the best we have to give? Or, do we hoard the best for ourselves and parcel out what’s left if we’re forced to do so? It is really a litmus test which reaveals the condition of our hearts. Can we let go of the temporal, material things of this world, or are we clinging on to to things for dear life, and so revealing where we find our treasure?
Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and andreiz
He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. Matthew 13:11-13
There is a progression through which individuals move towards belief. Those who make a decision to follow Jesus will usually look at the path behind them and point to a series of things that led them to their faith decision. Among the many things that made my heart ready to follow was music. As a kid I listened to a lot of music and I was drawn to music and lyrics that had a spiritual component to it. I can remember listening to the music of Kansas a lot, and identified with the spiritual journey that Kerry Livgren was on.
I love that Jesus was a story teller. He spun metaphorical stories that enticed people, drew them in and made their hearts ready for faith. We have the same opportunity through art, music, video, writing, plays, and other forms of metaphorical, artistic expression. I am convinced more than ever, if we want the Message to remain relevant to a digital generation, we must become better story tellers. If we don’t, any receptivity to God’s Message will quickly be lost and buried beneath the blur of internet traffic.
fim/[blas-feem, blas-feem] verb, -phemed, -phem·ing.
