11 July 2014 - new hearts

11 July 2014 - new hearts

When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.

Right at the moment when we would want to be the most prepared we are called to rely on God even more.  But it makes sense.  There is no part of this that we can do on our own.  God is "pleased with sincerity of heart" but to get it we need him to create it in us.  We ask:

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

After all we are not just going out as sheep in the midst of wolves.  We are going out as sheep for the sake of wolves.  In a certain sense, we are even willing to be their food, just as Jesus is willing to be ours.  We are called to love our enemies.  But on our own we have trouble loving even those we love consistently, "with a steadfast spirit".

We need God to create a clean heart in us, a heart that can witness before governors and kings and pagans for the sake of Jesus. 

The gospel is divisive precisely because it insists on our freedom to receive or to reject it.  We see in our own time just how divisive it can be.  We do see brother handing over brother and father handing over child.  We do see Christians hated and persecuted for the sake of Jesus.  He tells us that "whoever endures to the end will be saved."  But what does it mean to endure?  Among other things, it means to keep a "steadfast spirit" that continues to love our enemies.  It endures the crosses they send, praying all the while for their forgiveness.  It is much easier to try to plan this sort of thing ahead of time, to worry about how we are to speak and what we are to say.  If we plan it all we can attempt it without engaging our hearts.  We can keep a safe distance from truly loving our enemies.  But the LORD insists on more.  He wants to open our lips in those hardest of moments so that we can proclaim his praise.

We were once enemies of God too.  We were all defectors.  It is only by grace that anyone comes into his presence.  We still cling to idols, too.  We ought to have the greatest of sympathy for the wolves to whom we are sent.  They are ravenous because they do not have the bread from heaven.    We know that Jesus wants to bless them in the same way he blesses us.  It is not earned.  It is a gift of mercy.

I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and raise grain;
They shall blossom like the vine,
and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.