YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART!

YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART!

2 Tim 3:1-5

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

          The last thing I need to do is to offend some of my more orthodox readers. I have Catholics, Presbyterians, and a couple of Anglicans who read these daily devotions. To those friends let me say that I do not intend any insult in the following paragraphs. My point, at the end, should be clear.

          The other day a dear friend gave me a copy of the Rosary prayers. I found them interesting. Later I was reading some of the prayers in the Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican church. I found them beautiful and was surprised at how closely they adhered to orthodox Christian doctrine. The key, I think, is for the reader to truly mean the words he reads – or prays.

          As a Biblicist and Baptist, it is essential to me that my faith have “heart.” While we must not surrender to emotionalism, we are emotional people. I can’t imagine viewing the crucifixion with a yawn or responding to the bloody absolution of my many sins with a “ho hum.” Shouts of Amen and Praise the Lord seem appropriate.

          David, in his prayer of confession, begged God not to remove His Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:11). Jesus quoted David as he hung on the cross and sensed that God the Father had withdrawn His presence when the sun refused to shine on so ghastly a scene.

Ps 22:1

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

Matt 27:46

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

There is an old hymn with a strange title that speaks to our topic today.

How Tedious and Tasteless the hours…

How tedious and tasteless the hours
When Jesus no longer I see!
Sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet flow’rs,
Have all lost their sweetness to me.
The midsummer sun shines but dim,
The fields strive in vain to look gay;
But when I am happy in Him
December’s as pleasant as May.

Content with beholding His face,
My all to His pleasure resigned;
No changes of season or place,
Would make any change in my mind.
While blessed with a sense of His love,
A palace a toy would appear;
And prisons would palaces prove,
If Jesus would dwell with me there.

Dear Lord, religion without heart is like a mouthful of sand. Let we who love you sense your sweet presence in our lives today. AMEN