A Heart of Flesh
02/03/08 22:09
God
promises to us all –“I
will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be
clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities
and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and
put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your
heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh.”
Ez.36:25,26
Last week John Eckelberry was to clean the church with Bill and Becky –he forgot. When he greeted me last week he told me what happened; this is what he said: “I feel bad, I was rude to Bill and Becky, I forgot about cleaning the church with them.” He called and left a message on their phone and they returned his message and told him that all was forgiven! Now, if you listen carefully and try not to jump to any quick conclusions, I believe the Lord will help you learn something very precious and it will help you draw closer to the heart of God. When Bill told me what had happened he added that he told Brother John that, “it was okay…” Perhaps Bill was just accepting John’s apology but it seemed to me like he was excusing the faux pas. So I said, “Don’t tell him that! If he believed that he was rude then let him believe that. God has so softened his heart that he saw that even being forgetful can be “rude.” Now, you may be thinking that I’m being too hard on Brother John, but in actuality, I am blessing him by revealing to him that God has given him a heart of flesh. You see, most people would have excused themselves from any wrong whatsoever because… it wasn’t their fault that they forgot. They may apologize that they forgot, but they certainly would have expected you to forgive them because… they just forgot. It wasn’t as though they intentionally tried to forget, so, it wasn’t their fault. (Do you see that the people who think in this way are thinking only of themselves?) But John was thinking of Bill and Becky. Listen to what St. Paul tells us in Ephesians: “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” Eph.4:17-19 As Christians, we should think less and less of ourselves and more about others. Doesn’t the Word encourage us that it would be better to be wronged than to be so hard that we demand justice in our lives? Yes, it does! Thinking like the world will not soften our hearts. We are our brother’s keeper and we should treat them as we ourselves would want to be treated. If we continue to excuse our behavior God will not be able to soften our hearts, as He desires. A soft heart is sensitive to the feelings of others while a hardened heart continues to justify itself. Brothers and Sisters, let us love one another.
Last week John Eckelberry was to clean the church with Bill and Becky –he forgot. When he greeted me last week he told me what happened; this is what he said: “I feel bad, I was rude to Bill and Becky, I forgot about cleaning the church with them.” He called and left a message on their phone and they returned his message and told him that all was forgiven! Now, if you listen carefully and try not to jump to any quick conclusions, I believe the Lord will help you learn something very precious and it will help you draw closer to the heart of God. When Bill told me what had happened he added that he told Brother John that, “it was okay…” Perhaps Bill was just accepting John’s apology but it seemed to me like he was excusing the faux pas. So I said, “Don’t tell him that! If he believed that he was rude then let him believe that. God has so softened his heart that he saw that even being forgetful can be “rude.” Now, you may be thinking that I’m being too hard on Brother John, but in actuality, I am blessing him by revealing to him that God has given him a heart of flesh. You see, most people would have excused themselves from any wrong whatsoever because… it wasn’t their fault that they forgot. They may apologize that they forgot, but they certainly would have expected you to forgive them because… they just forgot. It wasn’t as though they intentionally tried to forget, so, it wasn’t their fault. (Do you see that the people who think in this way are thinking only of themselves?) But John was thinking of Bill and Becky. Listen to what St. Paul tells us in Ephesians: “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” Eph.4:17-19 As Christians, we should think less and less of ourselves and more about others. Doesn’t the Word encourage us that it would be better to be wronged than to be so hard that we demand justice in our lives? Yes, it does! Thinking like the world will not soften our hearts. We are our brother’s keeper and we should treat them as we ourselves would want to be treated. If we continue to excuse our behavior God will not be able to soften our hearts, as He desires. A soft heart is sensitive to the feelings of others while a hardened heart continues to justify itself. Brothers and Sisters, let us love one another.
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