Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)
Along my life’s journey I have many times been led astray by my heart which, evidence suggests, has a mind and will of its own. Prone to wander, my heart will easily lead me astray if I am not careful:
Enticing relationships that spiral life into chaos
Unnecessary acquisitions that end up acquiring me
“Sure things” that sure leave me on the short end of the deal
Frivolous pursuits which create fruitless waste of time and life
Treasure hunts that lead me far astray and leave me empty handed
Jesus said, “Wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” I have discovered that when my heart leads me astray it is because my spirit is at that moment treasuring foolish things. When my spirit is focused on following Jesus, it is easier to keep my heart in step.
I was reminded of the lyrics of this Dylan tune this morning:
Heart of mine so malicious and so full of guile Give you an inch and you’ll take a mile Don’t let yourself fall Don’t let yourself stumble If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime Heart of mine –Heart of Minelyrics by Bob Dylan (1982) from the album “Shot of Love“)
When my daughter Madison was very young, about the age of five, I asked her to do something for me. I don’t remember what it was I asked her to do, but I remember the moment like it happened a minute it ago. It’s etched in my memory and I have never forgotten her response to me. “Sure, daddy!,” she said with a smile, “I’ll be happy to!” She then bounced off to do what I’d asked. I was left smiling by her immediate obedience and her willing spirit.
To be sure, our daughters were not always as quick and cheerful in their obedience as Madison was on that day long ago. However, Madison’s attitude and obedience in that moment became a living word picture for me that has always stayed with me. In that moment I suddenly understood what my Heavenly Father feels when I am willingly obedient with a cheerful heart. I can imagine it is the same feeling God felt with Noah’s simple obedience.
Today, I’m praying that I can embody that same cheerful spirit in responding to God’s requests of me. “Sure thing, God. I’ll be happy to.”
As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand. The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.” But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. Acts 28:3-5 (NLT)
When Taylor called me from Africa a few weeks ago, we enjoyed a long conversation about the conditions where they are staying and what they are experiencing. One of the things I’ve consistently heard from friends and family who have travelled to remote, undeveloped areas of the world is that spiritual forces are much more visible in every day life compared to our own culture that tends to deny and suppress spiritual things. When I asked if this was true where they were staying and working, Taylor said that it was true without a doubt. As an example, she related the story of a local woman who had been possessed and had screamed non-stop at the top of her lungs for days.
It is impossible to journey through God’s Message and read the first-hand accounts of Jesus’ life without being faced with an uncomfortable realization about the spiritual realm. There are forces of Light and there are also forces of darkness. Jesus regularly encountered and confronted individuals who were possessed by spiritual darkness.
C.S. Lewis wrote in The Screwtape Letters, his classic book about the forces of spiritual darkness, that there are two equally foolish mistakes we can make when approaching this sensitive subject. One is to give too much consideration to the forces of darkness, the other is to give too little consideration to them. I often ponder this. While I do not doubt that many easily explained phenomena are incorrectly labeled as spiritual issues, I equally believe that many truly spiritual issues are incorrectly dismissed as easily explained phenomenon.
I loved the image of Paul getting bitten on the hand by the poisonous snake, holding it up and then shaking it off into the fire. Of course, the snake has been the metaphorical symbol of spiritual darkness since the Garden of Eden. Jesus taught that those who believe and receive Him into their hearts and lives are subsequently filled with Light, and where there is Light there is no darkness. That doesn’t mean that darkness cannot attack us. Like Paul, all who follow Jesus are susceptible to spiritual snake bites. We can take courage, however, that those who are in Christ have nothing to fear in these attacks; We can simply shake it off.
You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.Hebrews 5:12-14 (NLT)
I often refer to myself as a “back porch musician.” I can play the guitar and love to do so, but you’re not going to find me gigging at your local club this weekend. I’ve written a few songs just for the creative fun of it. I like to strum and pluck along with those who really know the craft, and Wendy will tell you that I get jazzed when asked and given the opportunity to play.
I had a few years of piano and drum lessons in elementary school and learned some of the rudimentary basics about music. I taught myself how to play the guitar in high school, then taught myself to play bass as an adult. I can still look at a sheet of music and tell you where a particular note is on the keyboard (just give me a second to think about it).
For over 30 years I’ve been an elementary musician. When it comes to being fluent in the language of music, I have not progressed much beyond the same knowledge I had when I was playing in the Woodlawn Elementary School band (I’m sure that was a treat for my parents). I have pangs of wishing I was a better musician. I try to play well and make small improvements, but at the end of the day I’m okay with being a back porch musician. I’ve focused my time and energy on other creative expressions. It’s all good.
What’s not all good is to think that the same stunted growth and rudimentary knowledge could or would apply to things of the Spirit. Spirit is like a muscle. Spirit is like a craft or an art form. Our spirit does not grow, mature, and develop without regular stretching, exercise, and nourishment. Without seeking we don’t find, Without knocking doors won’t open for us, without asking we don’t receive.
Our spiritual life is a journey, but only when we consciously make the effort to step up, step out, and press on. Throughout our lives we are given the choice to exit the journey at any number of comfortable rest areas along the path. There we can sit for the rest of our lives if we so choose, though we do so at our detriment. My musical knowledge and maturity will not count for much when this life is over, but my spiritual knowledge and maturity will have eternal consequences.
Feel like you’ve been sitting at a spiritual rest area since you were a kid? The entrance ramp is right there. Step up, step out, and join us. If you need some encouragement, give me a shout (tomvanderwell@gmail.com).
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.
Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation. Hebrews 1:14 (NLT)
Walking the journey each day, slogging through the task list and managing life’s daily routine, it is easy to forget that there is another dimension, a spiritual dimension, that exists simultaneously with our own. Because it cannot be seen with our natural eyes does not make it less real. In fact, after thirty years of studying God’s Message, I’ve come to believe that in the context of eternity the spiritual realm is indeed more “real” than the physical dimension in which we exist.
During his three-years of public teaching Jesus intersected and engaged in the spiritual realm all the time. Reading the first hand accounts of those who walked with him tell of Jesus speaking to spirits, casting them out of their human host, being guided by Holy Spirit, being visited by angels, being transfigured into the spiritual and speaking with the prophets. He made it clear that there is more to this journey than our eyes can see and our fingers can touch.
Today I am reminded that all around me is a spiritual dimension of God’s grand design. I purpose today to set my mind on spiritual things and not just earthly things.
Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. 2 Thessalonians 2:2 (NLT)
Throughout the journey I’ve had some very interesting experiences in which I know God has impressed something upon me. There are times when God has clearly spoken to my spirit regarding something I should know or do. When I was younger I admit that I was quick to hear my own will and slap a “God told me” sticker on it. Over time I learned to be much more careful with what I say. When I believe God has spoken something clearly to me I treat it like a priceless treasure. I keep it, I test it, I guard it, and I share it with relatively few people whom I trust with something so valuable.
Along the way I’ve met several people who play fast and loose with the phrase “God told me….” I generally don’t have a problem when a person says that God told them this or that if it only affects the person speaking. Fine. Who am I to judge? If what they say is true and I see the eventual evidence of it then I think that’s pretty cool. I always wonder about times when people tell me that God told them that this or that was His will for them, and then it clearly does not come to pass. I can remember only one occasion in my entire life in which someone told me, “I thought for sure God was telling me that, but man was I ever wrong. I was completely mistaken!” More often than not, when someone was clearly wrong they will not say a word. I’m generally left wondering if the person thinks God changed His mind or if they realize how foolish they look to have so boldly spoken something that was false.
For me, the larger problem occurs when people claim that God has given them a special word, a vision, or a discernment concerning me. It’s not that I don’t believe it can happen, but once again – what happens if they are wrong? When we journeyed through the books of the Old Testament law I remember the law prescribing death by stoning for those who claimed to have received a word of prophecy that proved false. I’m not advocating the resurrection of such a draconian rule. Nevertheless, I observe no real accountability for those who regularly use “God told me” or “I have a word of discernment from the Lord” to justify their own will and/or get what they want from others.
Of course, the more things change the more they stay the same. It is clear from today’s chapter that Paul was dealing with similar frustrations in the early church. People were playing fast and loose, telling those in the church that Jesus had already come back and they’d missed it. Some were even telling outright lies, writing letters about it and claiming it was from Paul.
I have learned along the way to heed the advice of the verse above. I don’t allow myself to be easily shaken when someone tells me “God told me…” or “God gave me a vision.” I quietly pray for God to reveal Truth in my heart and in the matter at hand. I wait. I watch. I let time and events test the truth of what they say. I press on, trying to obediently live out what I know God’s will to be. There’s not a lot of sense in getting bent out of shape about it. If that person is right, then what they say will come to pass. If they are wrong, then it will simple pass away.
I confess that I’d still like to stone a few people, though.
“Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.) And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”Mark 7:18-23 (NLT)
I have watched with interest as the growth of the natural, healthy, and organic food market. Ten or fifteen years ago the health food market was confined to small mom and pop stores in major cities and food co-ops for the granola set. Today, almost every major grocery store carries a plethora of all natural and organic foods. There are now large, national chains of health food stores.
Our culture has increasingly embraced more healthy and organic foods in contrast to the highly processed mass market foods available in every grocery aisle. I’m not adverse to this. I think it is a good thing. God advocates taking care of our bodies and treating them like a temple.
Nevertheless, I remember Jesus’ words: “What does it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your soul.” Reading Jesus’ words about food in today’s chapter, I hear Him making a corresponding point. What does it profit you to eat all natural and organic food, and work to keep your body in optimum health, if on the inside your spirit is withering in anger, depression, malice, greed, lust, or shame?
Our bodies are good for, at best, eighty to just over a hundred years. Our spirit is eternal. Where should I make the greatest investment?
Moses and the Levitical priests addressed all Israel: Quiet. Listen obediently, Israel. Deuteronomy 27:9 (MSG)
I came back from a business trip to Grand Island last week with a nasty little head cold. The cold did a number on my energy level and for the past four nights I’ve slept particularly long and hard. The result is that I’ve risen an hour or two (or three) later than normal and that has thrown my routine off significantly. My body is recuperating, but I feel my soul getting out of sorts.
I’m a morning person. I always have been. I drove my parents crazy because I wouldn’t sleep in. For years, I have channeled my early rising nature in positive ways. I normally spend a couple of hours each morning in my home office in uninterrupted quiet. I pray. I read. I write my chapter-a-day post. I listen.
The cacophany of noise around us continues to grow unabated. Television, cell phone, radio, iPods, DVDs, Netflix, YouTube, iTunes, MP3 players, and Blu-Ray discs. We are plugged in, tuned in, surfing, chatting, texting, and tweeting. Not one of these things is a bad thing. I sometimes wonder, however, about the cumulative effect of all the noise around us.
My time of quiet each morning is like a way-station in the journey. It recharges my spiritual batteries as I unplug from the noise and take the time to listen for God’s still, small voice whispering to my soul deep within. When I don’t have that time of quiet in the morning, I begin to notice in the way my spirit gets brittle and edgy during the day.
I believe that we all need regular doses of quiet in our lives. It’s as important, if not more important, today as it was when God demanded it of Moses’ followers thousands of years ago. Quiet doesn’t happen regularly unless I make it happen. Sometimes, like the past few days, my bodies need for recuperative rest takes precedence over my morning quiet time. It’s only reminded me, however, how much I need it.
“This is the Message of God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: ‘So why are you ruining your lives by amputating yourselves—man, woman, child, and baby—from the life of Judah, leaving yourselves isolated, unconnected?”Jeremiah 44:7 (MSG)
I’m beginning to perceive that this life journey, at its very essence, is simply about Life and Death. Not in a physical sense, for physically we all end up in the grave. But spiritually, I believe that moment-by-moment, day-by-day my soul is expanding and contracting in an ebb and flow of Life.
I loved the word picture Jeremiah gave the Judeans in today’s chapter. Why “amputate yourselves” with what you’re doing? That’s exactly what my sin feels like. My own repetitive behaviors scrape or hack off another chunk of my soul and the life bleeds out. Sometimes it’s an oozing scrape while other times it gushes as if I hit an main artery. With each hack my soul gets smaller. I now have less space for Life.
I love that Jesus’ miracles restored peoples’ bodies, but I believe that his miracles were works of performance art that provided a word picture of the true miracle he was about to perform. The truly miraculous work of Jesus is the restoration of our scarred and bloodied souls which we have willingly hacked away. For once our souls are restored, we can experience Life in greater abundance.
Will today increase Life in me, or drain Life from me?
