Over the
years as a parent it never ceases to amaze me how certain phrases from our
mouths will elicit negative reactions from our kids. Phrases like: Eat your vegetables...they’re good for you. Put on your jacket…it’s cold outside. Oh, and my favorite: It’s bed time…go get your jammies on! When we say those things, what do our kids do? They push their plate away and stare at their
veggies as if somehow their eyeballs are going to absorb them into their
bodies. It doesn't quite work that way,
does it? And if they are toddlers, and
you mention the word nap or bed time, they flop themselves on the floor and
roll around crying…as if that is going to convince you that they are NOT in
need of rest!
It’s funny
how as we get older, we appreciate rest so much more. We love to take naps. We live to go to sleep. We collapse into our beds at the end of the
day and when our alarms go off in the morning, we hit the snooze button fifteen
times, because wish we could stay in bed a couple hours longer. We long for more rest, don’t we? Or do we?
Sadly, in our culture we thrive on being busy. We hold up our calendars with all the stuff
we have to do each day as a badge of honor.
We run from our work to our kids’ sports and then from our kids’ sports
to a quick supper, which most of the time doesn’t have all of our family
members present. Then from supper we’re
off to do homework, or other events, or in my case, back to work sometimes!
When do we
ever slow down? When do we slow down
enough so that we can eat our emotional and spiritual vegetables of God’s
Word? When do we slow down enough to put
on our emotional and spiritual jacket of God’s grace? When do we slow down enough to give our souls
rest, which by the way, Jesus says He is ready to give to us (Matthew 11:28)?
It’s time
for us to intentionally slow down; to take a fast from our busyness and begin
to learn once again what it means to truly rest with Jesus. I invite you to begin to learn with me what
it means to create space for God and let the Holy Spirit change us from the “Inside Out”.
Here’s
why. Listen to this quote: “It is not possible for a Christian to be
spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature” (page 52, Peter
Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Church). King
David is a lesson from the Bible on the reality of this statement. He was a very successful and well liked King
of Israel. He had it all. He had power.
He had wealth. He had success in
everything he did. David was a famous
song-writer. Do you realize that David’s
songs are far more popular than Beyonce or Justin Bieber’s songs? David wrote many psalms in the Old Testament
and they have been used regularly since roughly 1000 B.C.! Sorry Beyonce and Bieber, but you can’t
compete!
From all
outward appearances, David looked like he was richly blessed by God and
incredibly strong in his faith! But all was not well inside David’s
heart. Look in your Bibles at the
heading of Psalm 51. What does it say? “For
the director of music. A psalm of
David. When the prophet Nathan came to
him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.” (Psalm 51) David
committed adultery? You mean…this hero
of faith recorded in the Bible committed adultery? Actually, what it doesn’t say, which we know
from 2 Samuel 11 and 12, is that David not only committed adultery with another
man’s wife, but that he brazenly used his power as king to try to cover it up
by murdering the man and then taking this woman home as his wife. All was not well on the inside of David’s
heart. He seemed to be spiritually
mature, but he was emotionally immature.
He was a poser, a hypocrite.
I’m
convinced that as we look at what is going on in our churches across America,
the same can be said not just of people in the pews, but the leaders of our
churches. From all outward appearances,
many leaders in our churches today look like they are spiritually strong, but
inwardly, they are an emotional mess. Consider these examples: 1) A
person can be a dynamic, gifted speaker for God in public and yet an unloving
spouse and parent at home. 2) A person
can function as a great church board member and yet be unteachable, insecure
and defensive. 3) A person can memorize
and quote most of the Bible and yet still be unaware of his depression and
anger, which is destroying his family. My friends, Christians are not immune to these
problems! It’s time that we all stop
pretending. It’s time that we all take a
good hard look inside and strive to see what Jesus sees.
The first
step is to develop an awareness of what’s going on underneath the surface of
our hearts. Our hearts are a lot like an iceberg. Icebergs really only have about 10% of their
total size above the waterline. 90% is
underneath. 10% of my heart is what you
see me say and do. Yet, what I say and
do is often driven by the 90% of my heart you don’t see.
What’s
underneath is the part that, quite honestly, I don’t want you to see. What’s underneath the surface of your heart,
also, is the part that you don’t want anyone else to see. Like King David who tried to cover up his
adultery and murder, we also, try to cover up our sins. But instead of covering them up, we need to
confess them. God already knows all the
deep dark secrets beneath our surfaces!
And you know what? No matter how
ugly they may be, He loves us anyway!
So how do we
discover what’s beneath the surface? Ask
the “Why?” questions. Jesus was always really good at asking
people the “Why?” questions. In Matthew
chapter 15, Jesus challenged the Pharisees to look within and asked them why
they did what they did. Jesus always led
people to look within to see the WHYs of their behavior.
And that’s
not easy! Because what I see in my heart
and on the underside of my iceberg isn’t pretty. Jesus put it clearly when He said, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts.”
(Matthew 15:19) When I look at the
underside of my iceberg, there are a whole lot of ugly, painful, chunks of ice
caused by my sin and the sin of others.
When I look
at all of the ugliness, then I can begin to understand WHY I act the way that I
do in certain situations. For example: Why am I always in a hurry? Why
am I so anxious? Why am I overly concerned about what
others think of me? Why do I judge
myself based on my performance at work?
For me
personally, here are some of the answers I’ve come up with as I’ve answered
these questions: Why am I always in a hurry?
Maybe it’s because I’m too busy trying to be everyone’s savior, instead
of being with my Savior and pointing others back to Him. Why am I concerned at times about what others
think of me? Maybe it’s because I’m
trying to gain people’s approval instead of living within the joy of God’s
approval that I already have because of Jesus!
Here’s the
incredible paradox about who we are because of Jesus’ life, death and
resurrection on our behalf: We are more
sinful and flawed than we could ever dare to admit. Yet at the same time, because of Jesus, we
are more loved and forgiven than we could ever dare to hope!
That’s why
David wrote what he did in verse 1 of Psalm 51.
David said, “Have mercy on me, O
God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot
out my transgressions.” Even though
David totally blew it! What did he
believe about God’s attitude toward him?
Merciful, unfailing love and compassionate! Wow!
Look at
verse 2. David continued, “Wash away all my iniquity (We would use the word, guilt.) and cleanse me from my sin.” Because he knew he was loved, what did David
do? He confessed his sin and asked for
forgiveness!
Like David,
it’s time to look beneath the surface.
It’s time to confess our sins and admit that too often we’re too busy to
have time with God. It’s time to confess
our sins and admit that because we don’t spend time with God and let His love
soak into the core of our being, we too often act like posers who try to cover
up our sins instead of confess them.
My friends,
it’s time to flip over our icebergs and let the sunshine of God’s love melt
away our insecurities, our failures and our guilt. That’s what David asked for. Look at verse 10, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within
me.” The Hebrew understanding of the
word heart involves our spiritual AND
emotional health. David asked for pure
spiritual AND emotional health.
And you know
what God’s wonderful answer to David’s prayer, as well as ours, is? Our loving Father says, “Rest assured, my children, I have had mercy. My love does not fail. See, look at the cross. Look at the empty tomb. Look at the bread and wine that are before
you in the supper my Son instituted for you.
Look and listen when I say to you: you are my beloved child, fully
forgiven and headed home to heaven.”
Fellow
children of God, are you ready to get some rest? Are you ready to get your spiritual AND
emotional health back? I invite you to
create space for God and let the Holy Spirit heal what’s beneath your surface.
Please take a look at the “Inventory of Spiritual and Emotional Maturity”. I encourage you to spend some
time doing that inventory and see how you rank. Then discuss it with a trusted friend or
family member and pray that God helps you grow in your spiritual and emotional
maturity. And remember that no matter
how you score, God loves all of you…even what’s beneath your surface!
-Pastor Chris Johnson, Outreach and Young Adult Pastor
