I have seen so many people rush to the church altar and tell God with sincere tears in their eyes that they want Him to be their Lord. They give Him their hearts. The commit and re-commit their lives to Him. They say and think that they will never have to do this again. They are living in a dream world!
Our hearts tend to wander. They drift without an anchor. The movement is almost inperceptible. Others do not notice and the person drifting does not take the time to notice.
However, it always follows the same path. The word of God is forgotten little by little until it is not mentioned at all. The person who was like a tree planted by streams of water appears to be a log drifting in the stream.
The person could say that God owned his heart completely. Now, he will say that God owns his heart mostly, some or that his heart is far from God. He wonders how he got so far away. He thinks that drifting from God is so normal that only weird people stay close. He is right.
Yet, God comes to that person to call him home. He asks the question that He asked Adam, "Where are you?" God already knows the answer. He question calls the person back to God. The answer reveals an axiom: I can't get directions to where I need to go if I can't determine where I am.
So, the question is asked again today: Where is your heart?
Take two pieces of paper with one representing your heart and the other representing God's heart. If stacking them perfectly on top of each other revealed a heart that was like God's own heart, where would you put the two pieces of paper and what direction would you say they were going? Would they be moving toward each other or farther away? Are they close to each other of far away?
Where is your heart today? Will you answer or keep hiding from the Lord?
Genesis 3:8-10 (NIV) 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
2 comments:
I would still give such calls and encourage people to do so, coming to the altar to commit and re-commit. Of course, I too am guilty of such coming and re-coming myself, but as time goes by, I begin to view such dedications and re-dedications more and more seriously. Let them come again and again, it is alright. It is NOT that God does NOT already know the conditions of the people's hearts. He knew where Adam and Eve were, yet He still called out to them, "Where are you?"
But Prentis, you are right of course, that we ought to examine our hearts regularly to see if we have drifted. Overly grace preachers often argued that 1 John 1 narrative of walking in the light as talking about entry into salvation, and so, argued that 1 John 1:9 is about non-believers confessing upon entry into salvation; that is NOT the case, rather the narrative there was about believers straying from the Highway of God (Isaiah 35:8). It is NOT that I am finding an excuse for myself, but people of God do stray, and they must come back into the light, and they are to be encouraged to come back into the light before they are lost in the darkness.
I like your 2 paper (heart) metaphor, for righteousness is about being in agreement with God, and how else can one be in full agreement with God, except by having his heart in sync with the heart of God.
God bless, Anthony Chia - Believers should confess their sins in accordance with 1 John 1:9
Anthony, I appreaciate your comments and totally agree with you. I offer altar calls and see people come forward. I want them to do so. I just don't want them to believe that this is the only time it will be necessary, nor do I want them to neglect doing so because they have done so before. I would rather have a person at the altar offering his heart to the Lord every week than one who neglects doing so.
God bless you.
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