Can You Get That Heart Any Cleaner?

Few things are scarier than taking a polygraph test.  Luckily, most of you have never taken one, but I can attest that it is a VERY undesirable experience.  Not that I’m a major criminal, but just being hooked up to the machine makes it seem like you have something to hide.  Kind of like a visit to the Maury Povich Show.  I was required to take an annual polygraph for a job I held, which means the operator was definitely looking for some sort of wrong deed that I had committed against the company.  The tester was looking for SIN.  I am happy to report that I never did anything wrong that would show on a polygraph but confronting one’s deeds and having to be completely honest about them isn’t something we often face.

Everyone KNOWS that God wants us to be honest in all our dealings, especially with HIM.  But this one passage reminds us of that truth a few times:

An honest witness tells the truth; a false witness tells lies.  ¹⁸ Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing.  ¹⁹ Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed…²² The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in those who tell the truth.   Proverbs 12:17-22

No surprises there!  But am I alone, or do you have a hard time telling God the truth in every situation?  I’m not even asking if you always tell your spouse or parent the truth.  I’m wondering if you always “fess up” to God about what’s going on in your life since YOU know HE knows anyway?  Why do we do what we do?  Here’s another verse to think about the next time you pray:

I know also, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness….   1 Chronicles 29:17

When you seek the face of God in prayer, please understand that God WANTS you to come to Him with anything that’s on your heart – except your sin.  God desires to hear from us, His children, about anything and everything that concerns us.  But can you imagine the conversation the next time you come to Him clinging to your sin?  God asks, “My dear child, what is that stain on your Spirit?”  And you respond, “I don’t see anything.”  God gently reaches out and touches you in the middle of your chest and says, “I mean right there.  What is that spot on your heart?”  And you just shake your head and LIE and say, “No, I’m fine.”

You just failed your polygraph!  If some person can hook you up to a machine and tell if you’re being honest, don’t you know that the God who made you and knows how many hairs are on your head knows what you’ve been up to?  That sin, whatever it is, will keep you from touching the heart of God when you may need Him the most.  Clinging to the sin – not acknowledging it to Him – is what causes the breakdown.  Because the FACT that you sin is no surprise to the One who came to free you from that ugly habit. 

God gave His Son to pay the penalty for your sin, so you could be with Him for eternity.  In the process, Jesus also broke the chains that bind you to sin each day.  It’s always better to reach out to God BEFORE you sin and seek the Holy Spirit’s help to say “No” to sin.  But if you fail to avoid it, don’t try to hide it.  God wants you to have a clean heart.  David understood that:

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.  ² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  ³ For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me…¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.   Psalm 51:1-10

A clean heart.  I need one of those and I know how to get it.  I’m betting you do, too.

Jacob

Are Those Flying Monkeys?

You’ve all seen the movie.  The wind starts to kick up as the young girl and her dog try to head home.  But a tornado is coming!  Before she can get into the protection of the storm cellar, she sees everything from cows to people swirling around her in a chaotic mess.  Does YOUR life seem a bit like Dorothy’s?  I mean BEFORE she crushed the witch and landed in Oz?  More to the point, are things flying at you from every direction and making it hard to THINK, let alone ACT on your faith?  How do our lives become so out-of-control?  Why do we permit the chaos that swirls around us?

Jesus’ disciples could have identified with Dorothy (and you):

On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” ³⁶ Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. ³⁸ But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

³⁹ Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”  Mark 4:35-40

The disciples were going about their ordinary day-to-day business of getting from point A to point B with Jesus.  Yet a huge storm interrupted their journey and, at least to THEM, seemed to threaten their lives.  Aren’t there times when you kind of feel like the boat you’re in is taking on water?  That the storm is too great to make any headway?  That’s EXACTLY how the disciples felt.  And where was Jesus?  S-L-E-E-P-I-N-G.  They were indignant!  Didn’t Jesus care about them at all?  How could He let them just DIE as they were trying to serve Him?

There are always lessons to learn from the pages of Scripture, so let me just boldly make some points for us both:

1.   The storm wasn’t as bad as it seemed.  The disciples weren’t going to die; they just felt like they might.  Whatever you’re facing right now – all the swirling debris and chaos – isn’t going to kill you. 

2.   Jesus cares more about your faith than your circumstances.  In fact, He USES the challenges we face to GROW our faith.  I suspect the disciples got the point, but the greater questions is, “Do I get it?”

3.   The peace and calm we seek is only found in Jesus.  It was (and is) only Jesus who could calm the storm.  Note that they didn’t wake Him and ask Him to calm the storm.  They only woke Him to accuse Him of not caring about them.

I want to quickly add that not all of the swirling and chaos in our lives is there because God wants to use it to grow us.  Some of the “busy-ness” is there because we haven’t learned to say “No”; some of it is because we give time to things we think are important that really aren’t; and some of it is due to letting the world have pieces of us that should be reserved for God and His service. 

If you feel a little “light in the shoes” like Dorothy and believe you may just be blown away any minute, or if you share the fear of the disciples in the boat and wonder if God cares, there is an easy answer.  Stop what you’re doing immediately, close your eyes, and look for Jesus.  He’s there, ready to be the anchor for your soul; your resting place; your life-preserver, if need be.  Though He rested on the boat that day with the disciples, He does not rest or sleep now.  He is ALWAYS praying for you, just waiting for you to reach out to Him.  Because He cares for you.

If you’d rather not ask Jesus for help, then try clicking your heels together and wishing for home.  See how that works for you.  But watch out for the flying monkeys….

Jacob