Do We Live In A Vacuum? - Mark 9:14-29

 

Mark 9:14-29 NIV

¹⁴ When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. ¹⁵ As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

¹⁶ “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

¹⁹ “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰ So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

²⁶ The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

²⁸ After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁹ He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

 

Do We Live In A Vacuum?

This particular episode of Jesus ministry takes place after the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration was a time when Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him on a high mountain by themselves. On this mountain, Jesus suddenly becomes transfigured before these disciples’ eyes and his clothes are shining or dazzling white brighter than anything the disciples have ever seen before. And then with Jesus the disciples see Elijah with Moses standing with Jesus. Well, Elijah and Moses have been dead for years! Then there is a cloud. God likes to give messages and appear in clouds as witnessed in the past. Out of this cloud comes the voice of God, “This is my Son, I love Him, listen to Him.” (my paraphrase) And then next when the disciples look around, they saw no one anymore.

Wow! What an experience! After this they come down the mountain. This is where this passage comes to life. The disciples, left behind, are in the valley facing a conundrum. They have been unable to heal the child of this man that Jesus comes upon. So that sets the stage.

For a moment, in your mind’s eye, contrast the glory of the Mount of Transfiguration to the valley of human terror. Contrast the glories we see in the high points of our calling to the terrors of this world, in the valley.

Some disciples go away and get these spiritual “highs” with God. Other disciples are left behind to deal with the terrors, the sin, the death, the destruction in the valleys of this world.

We seek to climb the hills, the mounts, in our lives. We seek to be the best, to conquer the world, sin, death and the devil. We seek to be number 1! We seek the mountains of life and the pride and glory. Yet…

The real skill or art is in the going down the hill or mountains.

I remember in my life at GE Aviation, we would make visions to guide our actions. Yet in this real life with Jesus, we are called to go from the vision of the Transfiguration to deeds. What? That sounds so works righteous! But hear me out.

From our high points as disciples of Jesus, we have been privileged, we have been gifted, we have been called. Our call is to come down. Come down from the mount and hear Jesus’ command. A command to love God and likewise to love all those God gives to us each and every day. And when we’re in the valley of this earthly dwelling in which we live in the here and now… DO God’s work!

So, why did the disciples in the valley fail in their efforts to heal the man’s child?

Jesus makes it clear. The disciples, and ourselves as well, fail because of our lack of faith. Here in this instruction from Jesus for our calling we receive a message on the importance of faith. When Jesus instructs me or you, as His disciple, don’t get defensive. Listen to Him. Jesus is God’s beloved Son. What Jesus has to say to us IS important.

The Father of the child, displays just a dash of faith. And with this dash of faith, Jesus heals. Jesus did not wait for the man’s faith to grow. Jesus took action and healed.

Once again, as we seen over and over again in these past few talks on “Pointing to Jesus,” Miracles happen in the context of faith.

It’s funny, when Jesus encounters this scene, in the valley, the religious leaders of the day, the disciples and the crowd of people are arguing about this inability to heal the man’s son.

How many times do we argue while standing in the presence of real need. We can say, oh, thoughts and prayers. Well, that’s true, but sometimes, this turns into all talk and no show. So many people who are not disciples of Jesus look on and ridicule Christianity for this attitude, possibly this lack of faith. In the face of human need, there comes a time for thoughts and prayers, but these thoughts and prayers, must be followed by action. There comes a time when we are called to SHUT UP and ACT! In the face of need, stop discussing and ACT!  Yes, ACT. Feed the poor, clothe the naked, fill those buckets with supplies for those who have suffered from weather catastrophes, build homes, visit the sick, talk to the shut-in… on and on and on. There IS a time to ACT!

Just as we see Jesus do here, the world brought a need to Him. The world brings needs to us, His disciples, as well. We are the disciples of Jesus, the Healer. So, we respond! We respond and ACT in love, not judgment. We respond in love, not rebuke for the situation that others have found themselves in because of their own actions.

For sure, Jesus was in anguish over the situation that he walked into, after being on the mountain with His Father. Yet, Jesus had compassion on all of these people. Jesus had compassion and a direct message for His own disciples, the religious leaders of the day, the crowd and the man and his son.

As the world comes to us in disbelief of what Jesus can do, people are still suffering. Stop! Don’t judge them for their lack of faith. Place your own hope, your own belief in Jesus on the line and ACT. Do something!

Yet, what seems to happen to so many of us, myself, you and disciples included?

Instead of placing our belief in Jesus, we first turn to, or place our hope in, science, political leaders, medicine, doctors, and on and on. We turn first to the world.

Yet, in the midst of our sin, we don’t and many times we won’t believe in Jesus! Come on! How long will we let this occur?

Do we believe more in the powers of man and this world and ourselves, than we do in the God of Love? We turn to Jesus with an “If you can!” Wow! Come on! Jesus IS God!

There are no limits to the power of faith and confidence in God.

Remember back a few episodes of “Pointing to Jesus.”

 Mark 4:39 NIV

³⁹ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

 

Mark 5:41 NIV

⁴¹ He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).

 

Jesus combines God’s power with God given faith. Faith, that absolute trust and dependance on God that reflects itself in prayer. There is that prayer, coming to life.

 

The road from unbelief to belief comes from a cry, a prayer. See it? Help my unbelief, the man cries out to Jesus. We too cry out to Jesus for help in our unbelief.

 

We need a daily prayer. Help my unbelief! May I daily recognize my sin and need for Jesus in my life.

 

And then it happens. Jesus heals! Jesus saves! Jesus ACTS!

 

And what happens is a cure that is permanent. Jesus forgives us and heals us and calls us and through the Holy Spirit, sends us out. Down from the mountain and into the valley of this world of sin and death.

 

Now, witness what Jesus does with this man’s child. Upon healing the child, the child appears to be dead. Seems a bit like a look forward to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Here we witness resurrection speak. The child appears dead, yet, with the hand of Jesus, the child rose up.

 

Wow! What a flash forward does this bring me to my own desires. Even though I live in sin, and even though I die in sin; I look forward to that day, when Jesus returns, and with His hands he lifts me up from the dead to everlasting life with Him.

 

Finally, as Jesus teaches us and His disciples, we discover that prayer is a BIG thing to Jesus. Prayer isn’t like the prayer that this world thinks it is. Prayer isn’t some answer to all the ills of this world and all the ills of the evil and the faults we see in ourselves. Prayer is not a way to bring on some magic power to make all things “right.”  No.

 

Prayer IS communion with God. Prayer IS when we go to God, all our life long, beyond ourselves, to THE power greater than ourself. Prayer casts us out of our sinful selves in love for all those God gives to us each and every day. Prayer is our call to ACT, in love for God and in love for all those God gives to us each and every day. Prayer drives us to our knees before THE Creator to ACT out in the love God gives to us.

 

Yes! Prayer IS important and always to be desired.

 

Jesus speaks openly and honestly and direct to His disciples.

 

We fail when we lack faith, when we lack prayer and when we lack the discipline to use all the wonderful gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us to give freely to the world and the people of this world with which we live. God graciously gives us faith and all we need to act out in His love for all the world.

 

The mount? The valley?

 

Jesus spent His life going down. Jesus came down from communion with God in heaven, to the crowds of human need. Jesus came down to me, to you and to all the world, to forgive, to save, and to unite Himself with us into all eternity.

 

Lord, give me the guts and determination to serve and sacrifice in love through the gifts you have given to me. As You have delivered me from sin, death and the devil, I thank You. Help me to watch my tongue that I may speak to this world and always, POINT TO JESUS, today, tomorrow and forever.

 

The artwork displayed is Raphael’s great painting of the Transfiguration.

 

I have included a YouTube musical for you reflection…

Even So, Lord Jesus, Come

 

 

Listen! Speak Up! - Mark 7:24-37

 

Mark 7:24-37 NIV

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. ²⁵ In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

²⁸ “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

³¹ Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. ³² There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

³³ After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). ³⁵ At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

³⁶ Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. ³⁷ People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Listen! Speak Up!

In this passage of Scripture, we find evidence that Jesus mission is for ALL the lost and neglected, no matter what race or religion. Jesus travels outside of Jewish territory and is in Gentile land with the Gentiles. According to Jewish thinking this land is “unclean” territory. And it is in this land that Jesus comes in contact with a Gentile woman with a lively, passionate faith and belief in what healing powers that Jesus has.

You see, Jesus has always been a living personality and force, even to this day. Nothing can permanently hide Jesus from our eyes, ears or minds.

Yes, this Jesus was destined, yet forbidden, to die by men’s powers. Yes, Jesus was condemned by mankind, but to die? Well yes… yet No. At least not a death that would last. Jesus rose from the dead to live into eternity.

So, in this unclean land of the Gentiles, Jesus meets a woman. A lively passionate faithful woman. Yes, a Gentile, and yes unclean by Jewish standards, and yet yes even more a woman who places her faith in Jesus. And even at what some may think of as a rebuke from Jesus, this woman is persistent in her faith. For this woman, who some think may be named Justa, her daughter, likewise thought to be named Bernice is possessed by a demon. And Justa begs Jesus to drive the demon from Bernice. This is life or death stuff, and Justa has faith in Jesus.

And now we see faith once again present with the miracles of Jesus. God wants to save as many of his people as possible.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians this loving desire of God to save is driven home.

Ephesians 2:11-18 NIV

¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— ¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

And Justa, the Gentile woman, exclaims to Jesus, “Sir,” or as recorded in this passage Lord. This is the same word we use in the church as Kyrie. Some of you may recognize Kyrie Eliason… Lord have mercy! Just in this proclamation of this Gentile woman, we witness faith. And remember from a few past sessions of “Pointing to Jesus,” we discovered how faith is present with miracles. And in this miracle of Jesus, the woman’s daughter is even healed from a distance. The daughter isn’t even present in the same location. And the woman returns home and her daughter is rid of the demon.

This miracle account of Jesus is followed up by another miracle.

After Jesus travels a bit, a deaf man with a speech impediment is brought to Jesus for healing. Here, in this place, Jesus wanted to avoid publicity, because earlier, in this region, the people tried to make Him king. But this wasn’t the type of kingship Jesus came into this world to become. No, Jesus would be our King, but not just, a worldly king alone.

Witness this passage of Scripture from the Old Testament, years before Jesus walked this earth and met this man.

Isaiah 35:5-6 NIV

⁵ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
⁶ Then will the lame leap like a deer,
    and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
    and streams in the desert.

This is a promise into the future, as now we see Jesus, and this miracle of healing and faith.

And in this miracle of Jesus, we witness contact.

The saliva of Jesus is used here. Saliva was thought to have a healing power. But it is also the saliva of Jesus the causes the man to co-operate in faith with what Jesus is doing. Jesus looks to heaven and groans. Perhaps this groan from Jesus was showing His deep emotion and compassion for this deaf man with a speech impediment.

And with this sigh, Jesus uses a funny word for us today, Ephphatha. This word means to be opened.

Now think about it. If our ears are opened to the Word of God, or even to Jesus, the Word made flesh; how can we help but to loosen our tongues in praise and testimony?

This is exactly what happens to the man with Jesus, He can now hear and he will now proclaim Jesus.  Yes, this man, now has his own Jesus encounter testimony that he wants to tell to all the world.

Once again, in just a few verses, Jesus in Gentile territory, heals in a miraculous way, the deaf and mute man.

Now, to make this all a little personal. Have my ears, or your ears, or the ears of this world been opened to Jesus lifegiving, forgiveness and salvation?

Have we, as disciples of Jesus a new speech? Do we witness to a new spiritual life in Jesus? I’ll come back to these questions in a moment.

In this passage of Scripture, Jesus combined Himself, His own Faith, in His doing the will of God, with His earthly spittle along with His command to be opened to bring healing for this one man.

What more has God done for all of us and God combines an earthly element, like spittle with a command. Perhaps like with water and God’s command, or even bread and wine with God’s command. Does this sound familiar to the disciples of this world?

You see, as we learn from Luther, Baptism is not merely water. No, it is water used according to God’s command and connected with God’s Word. What Word is this? It is the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in,

Matthew 28:19 NIV

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

And what gifts and benefits does Baptism bring? It brings forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives everlasting salvation to all who believe, as the Word and promise of God declare.

Mark 16:16 NIV

 

¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

 

You see, it’s not the water, or the spittle, or the bread or the wine, that does these great things, rather it is the Word of God connected with the earthly element and our faith that relies on the Word. For without the Word of God, we only have spittle, water, bread or wine.

 

It’s sort of the same with Communion. We take the bread and the wine, the earthly elements, and along with the Words of Jesus we receive not only bread and wine but the body and blood of Jesus, in with and under the bread and the wine.  Where do we find this command?

 

Matthew, Mark, Luke and Paul, all say…

In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying:

“Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

 

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying:

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

 

So, there you have it. A couple more examples of God’s command and earthly elements, combined with faith and given as healing gifts to not only one man, or one daughter, but to all the world.

 

In the account of the deaf man, Jesus tells the people to hush it up. But how can they help themselves but to go out into their own worlds and shout out about what they have just witnessed.

 

Today, do disciples have an impediment to speech?

 

Sometimes I wonder. As I see on social media sites, so many people that only want you to copy, paste and post stuff with an “Amen” attached; I have to really wonder if this attention is to focus on the disciple or to Point to Jesus.

 

Stop all that stuff! Say it in your own words! Don’t go about professing Jesus with memes! Come on!

 

It seems to me when disciples do this, they are being cautious, perhaps prudent and or even worse, just plain cowardly.

 

Speak of Christ in your life yourself, with your own words, in your own situations. Speak and testify to all your neighbors and friends what healing Jesus has brought to you. Use your own mouth, your own ears and your own tongue, and your own fingers on the keys, BOLDLY! Go beyond copy, paste and Amen. I mean really? Do you really want to Point to Jesus, or are you trying to look good to your neighbor?

 

God wants our voice speaking, our fingers typing, so that His Word will spread to all those God gives to you each and every day… today… tomorrow… and forever.

 

Point to Jesus, yourself!

 

Lord, correct my faults when I chicken out. As I place my trust in you for everything, created in me the faith that will produce the works of love for all my neighbors, that they may see you and your healing power of salvation for all the world.

 

I invite you to enjoy this YouTube Music Video that accompanies this reflection…

Speak O Lord

Open Eyes of Heart - Mark 7:14-23

 

Mark 7:14-23 NIV

¹⁴ Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. ¹⁵ Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” ^[16] 

¹⁷ After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ¹⁸ “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

²⁰ He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. ²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Open Eyes of Heart

Purity of heart. I hear in Jesus’ message of this passage of Scripture.

Hosea 6:6 NIV

⁶ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
    and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Amos 5:23 NIV

²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.

Micah 6:6-8 NIV

⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

Isaiah 58:1-14 NIV

58 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
    Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
    and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
² For day after day they seek me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near them.
³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
    and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

¹³ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
    and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

What are we doing? Do we do what we do, just to be seen by others? Do we do what we do to earn God’s favor? Do we do what we do to look good in the eyes of God? Do we do what we do out of selfish pride? What are we doing?

But wait a minute! You may say, these good works come from within. These good works come from deep in my heart. Maybe so, but why do you do the good works that you do?

Do you do your good works to be seen by others for people to see you? Do you do your good works to earn God’s favor? Do you do your good works for God to see you doing good works? Sounds just like the first set of questions.

Sometimes, what comes from within, is really some false notion of ours that came in from without. OK… now I’m talking in circles.

Some of these things that we do that we learn from without, really just lead us to satisfy our own pride. We know that doing good for another is good. Makes sense. But when we do good to make ourselves look good… well… that stuff may have been better just going on through us and out the sewer. The kind of doing good for another for the purpose of making yourself look good, doesn’t seen to fit the form of the message in this passage of Scripture from Jesus.

This type of doing good, is not impurity of hands. No, what you did was good for neighbor, but this type of pride in doing good, comes from impurity of heart.

Sin begins in our thought.

Galatians 5:19-21 NIV

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

But you say, I wasn’t doing any of this! Well, no, for the most part, it’s easy to pick up on these acts of the flesh. Sure, that stuff looks all bad. So, what are you getting at?

 

We are foolish when we think of sin as a joke. Well, that stuff above is no joke? That’s easy to see.

 

Romans 14:14 NIV

¹⁴ I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.

 

What? You’re making understanding all of this worse!

 

What defiles us is an evil heart. This influence that comes from the outside and enters into our heart giving us pride for our own righteousness and our own works, is a poison that ruins life. This prideful evil is foolishness. And out of this evil heart flows:

Slander --- which is a form of murder

Pride --- maybe the deadliest of all sins AND it prevents penitence

Foolishness

Theft

Murder

Adultery

 

 

 

Moral cleanliness is more important than ceremonial cleanliness.

 

And now we’re back to this Open Eyes of Heart thing.

 

It is the Open Eyes of Heart that matters. Nothing outside can either defile or purify me.

 

So, what is a Pure Heart?

 

Look to the Beatitudes… Matthew 5:2-11… I’ll let you look that up yourself. Anyway, a pure heart is described as a meek spirit, a penitent mind and peace making.

 

The stuff that comes from your heart, that goes outside of yourself, not for your own benefit, but rather as a response to what God has already done, for and in and now through you is what is of God.

 

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

²³ Above all else, guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it.

So what?

Well, look at what comes from the outside. Jesus came to us from heaven. From outside. But what did he do from our outside? He took on our inside. Huh? Yea, he took on all of the impurity that came from our insides and brought it upon himself. He took all of our sin to die on the cross… on His outside.

Why? So that we could now live in Him and He in us. Jesus made the Open Eyes of our Heart his very own, so that we could live forever with Him in His Kingdom in the righteousness of our new heart… his heart… now our heart.

Well, that’s a bunch of gobble Dee gook!

So, now what comes out of our heart, is not pride for self. Rather what now comes out of our heart, the works of our heart, are the response to what God has given us through Jesus.

 

And that’s how it seems God has been using all of us messed up humans throughout creation.

 

Sometimes, I enter a passage of Scripture, the Words of Jesus and come out more confused than when I started. But that’s OK with me. Sometimes Jesus makes me stop, think, take in His Word, maybe not to understand it all, but rather to have His Word become a part of me, a part of my heart, maybe even to Open the Eyes of my Heart. It’s not always an easy understanding, at least for me, I admit. As I watch myself and remember what God has shown me, I see God’s Word gives Light and see how the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.

 

May God lead and guide the Open Eyes of Heart, in my actions to love God and love all those God gives to me… today… tomorrow… and forever.

 

Enjoy this YouTube music that brought meaning to this reflection…

Open The Eyes of My Heart