Thoughts From The Heart

Ephesians 4:1-2
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,

Ephesians 5:1
Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma.

Charles Finney on the impact of Christ in our daily lives:
"Every step you take vibrates to all eternity. Every move echoes over the hills and valleys of heaven, and through the caverns of hell. Every movement of your life exerts an influence that will reflect in the eternal destiny of people around you."

Finney goes on to say:
"The world reads this witness as you walk the streets. You are a living letter known and read to all. If you show pride, lightness, a short temper and the like, it tears open the Savior's wounds."

I know that Finney lived in a different time and age. That the world saw Jesus different than we do today. If you read Finney for any length of time, you might come away saying that he was all about the Law and not much grace. You would consider him to be the "hell-fire / damnation" type of preacher. Finney would seem out place in our time and day if he showed up to preach at our churches. But within this man burned something that never goes out of style. He longed to see a church, or community of believers, rise above the sin and apathy that seemed to grip religion in America. 

Whether we want to agree with Finney, or disagree with him, one thing has not changed when it comes to following Jesus. We are called to a character standard that is different than the world. We do not operate or do business as the world does. There is a Holy Spirit moral fiber than is grown into the every follower of Jesus. It affect the way you interact with others. It takes you from a self-centered form of worship, and gives you vision to see God and this world as they really are. I tell you if you ever get a glimpse of the real God, you will not remain in the same mind set you currently possess.

We think that running into a church building on Sunday morning, singing a few songs to get a warm fuzzy feeling, and then running back out into the world has satisfied our commitment to God. What would happen if this next Sunday during worship God truly showed up in the gathering? What would happen? Would you fall to your face, totally uncovered for all the things you've harbored in your heart? Would you turn self totally over to His will and receive the grace and mercy that He longs to pour out on you? I do know this. If God truly did show up in our meetings, we would not leave that building in the same spiritual state we came in with.

Such a heart that had been in the presence of the Living God would forever be changed. The things of this world would loose their appeal and God would be seen at ever turn during the daily life. I know that even as I write this, some will think that I may have slid off of my cracker. If so, then pray for me, because I am being awakened to some truth in my own life. I don't want to play church....I don't want to be a pseudo-follower of Christ that only does so as a mental exercise. I want to love those no one else does. I want to feed the hungry, and give a coat to the one who has none. To pray healing upon the broken, the ill and the cripple. Not to exalt my name or my church but, as the Moravian's proclaimed, 

"To win for the lamb the reward of His sufferings."

Dare we do any less that this? 

Do you realize that we all have been invited to play in the Kingdom of God?
To do the works of Jesus.
To tell the news that can change everything.
To live out daily in front of others who may not know Jesus, a truth that has not, nor does not change.
A truth that has the power to change everything.
In your prayers today, ask God to show you your heart.

Then allow His Spirit room to come and change you.

You might be surprised at what happens over the coming weeks and months.

Please receive this writing this morning in the Spirit it was intended to be shared with. Not as a condemnation on the state of the church, but in the hope and glory of God who desires a community of believers to rise up and be who they were created to be.

God on you....

mb