[Difference Makers ls] Live Heart Healthy Sampel

Hearts That Hide

Sin makes your heart cold. Then it makes your heart hard. A third thing that sin does is that it causes us to hide. Instead of embracing God and others, we hide. 

Sin isolates you. It is far easier, with some sins, to sin in solitude than it is to sin in a group. Sin moves you into the dark. It is far easier to sin at midnight than it is to sin at noon. You drive past places in our city that are seedy, gross, terrible places. And in the daytime, they look like a dump, but at night, they look different. We think, well, now that it is dark, maybe we can enter in and nobody would know. It gives us a hard heart. It gives us a cold soul. We hide instead of embracing God and embracing others.

When you are alone, the enemy comes and takes out your knees. When you are in a place of darkness, he comes and takes out your life. God, in contrast, wants to bring us to the light and to the community of the people of God. 

Isaiah tells the vision about the people of Judah and Jerusalem. They were sinning against the Lord, and they knew it. So, what did they do? They began with their own works. They tried to get rid of their guilt and trouble by making sacrifices to the Lord. But Isaiah 1:11 shows us what the Lord thought about their efforts. They were useless. They were detestable. 

The people of Israel had said something like, “Let’s just go to church more. We have got a heart problem, so let’s just try to do some spiritual things.” All of us have lived the facade before. We have pretended when we know that our hearts are cold and hard. 

But God says, "No, no, no, no, no. I am not asking for your exterior. I am asking for your interior. I want to make a difference in who you are, because who you are will affect what you do.” God wants to warm and soften our beating hearts. He wants to bring us to the light and to the community of the people of God. And then, He wants to fill us with life and love, so that love can become the basis for our actions. 

Lord, do not let me hide. Make my heart healthy.