Have you ever avoided seeing a doctor believing that if you do not get checked out, you cannot be told their is anything wrong? If you have, you're not alone.
The state of Christianity, or even what it means to follow Jesus, is as clear as a murky river these days and has been left to many interpretations. We teach everything from universal reconciliation, to the salvation of the chosen elect, and everything in between.
We shout from the street corners and we hide ourselves under bushels keeping our faith "private". We seem to be quite confused.
The scriptures are clear that Jesus has a heart for reconciliation. There is a thread of saving "the world" laced throughout the entire lens of the Bible, and even in the moment of suffering and agony, Jesus still prayed to the Father through a lens and from a motive of unity the evening of his arrest leading to his crucifixion. (https://biblehub.com/john/17.htm)
In today's world of hyper-focused boundaries, Jesus's relentless heart for humanity and the unity of his followers would have been deemed "unhealthy" by most standardized counseling assessments. He's taking the love thing way too far!
Although the motive of the creator of the cosmos has been and is to redeem and restore what once was and what is supposed to be, Jesus is a king who can clarify the heart of man by one look, in one moment.
Maybe like me, you've sat under enough teachings that say "your sin put Jesus on the cross, but it's his love that kept him there". Although that's not entirely wrong, this is an emotionally manipulative way of presenting the gospel, and very diluted. My sin, your sin, has been a part of countless heartaches for ourselves, those we care about the most, and our relationship with God, but it didn't forcibly place Jesus on the cross.
He chose to submit to the cross and the ways of the world in order to reveal the goodness of God and to put on display the power life has over death, light over darkness, goodness over evil.
What we often miss is what isn't stated in scriptures. That being said, it would also be irresponsible hermeneutics to impute anything into the Bible that isn't there, but that doesn't mean we cannot put more pieces together by the information that is already been given to us. The interaction of Jesus's arrest allows us to see a small glimpse into who he is and what he is capable of and we see clearly that Jesus was not subject to anyone or anything, but he does at times "allow" evil to exist. (Keep in mind, evil is the absence of goodness just as darkness is not something on it's own, but a removal or lack of light.)
Peter, wanting to defend his friend, his leader, his King, steps in between danger and his first love, drawing the sword from a Roman soldier and severing his ear with his own weapon. Jesus's response is multi-layered, but his power is revealed in his response to Peter's actions in Matthew 26:52-53. “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?
What we can see though this text is the realization that there is more to who Jesus is.
There are realities that exist that have not been made clear to us. We cannot see in to the heavenly's what twelve legions of deployable angels may look like, but it doesn't mean they don't exist.
Although he prayed for the steadfast unification of the disciples, and ultimately the restoration of the entire world, the cross was the great divider that separates the darkness from the light as clearly as the land was separated from the sea and the day from night in Genesis 1. For us, if we allow him to, nothing will expose the motives of our heart like the presence of Jesus alone.
Recently, we discussed a statement Jesus made recorded in Matthew 6:22 about the healthy eyes. "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light."
The “good eye” Jesus alludes to finds its root in the Hebrew Bible, where authors use it to refer to generosity. The Hebrew phrase tov ‘ayin literally means “good eye,” but English translations often use the word “generous” to communicate its deeper meaning. Consider Proverbs 22:9:
“One who is generous [tov ‘ayin] will be blessed, because he gives some of his food to the poor.” (NASB)
The opposite of tov ‘ayin (good eye) in Hebrew is ra’ ayin (bad eye). This example from Proverbs 23:6-7 shows both the “bad” and “duplicitous” nuances conveyed in this idiom:
“Do not eat the bread of a selfish [ra’ ayin or “bad eye”] person or desire his delicacies.
(exert from the Bible Project)
The statement "wolf in sheep's clothing" is what would describe a person with a "bad eye" or evil/impure motives.
"There is nothing, or no-one who will expose the motives of the heart quicker and more clearly than the presence of Jesus Christ alone"
“I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.
‘Father will be divided against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” Luke 12:51-53
These statements may seem contrast to the all loving king that we often want Jesus to be, but if we are open to understanding, these statements exemplify love at it's purist form.
I have recently been working with a close friend who has encountered the all consuming presence of Jesus for the first time in his over 30 year existence. He's realizing the Jesus he is getting to know and is talked about in scripture, is quite different than the one who he was told about growing up. He has been coming face to face with a God who is far more powerful, real, loving, and pure than he could ever have imagined, but this relationship is exposing much of his own motives that he's based his life on. He is having to wrestle with the tension of family members who believe following this Jesus is too extreme and he's been forced to make decisions to continue to follow regardless of the criticism and lack of support from those he cares most about.
We often don't know how inter-tangled with the world we are until our hearts are met with a fork in the road to chose Jesus or a relationship, Jesus or a job, Jesus or a dream, Jesus or apathy, Jesus or a hard conversation, Jesus or keeping our mouth shut. You get the idea...
"How we react to someone or something without having time to think is our greatest indicator of where our heart is truly at"
Jesus has come to set us free, and I mean truly free, but when we see that this pursuit of receiving this freedom finds us in quiet spaces face to face with Jesus of Nazareth, the EKG report may be daunting. Like many of us, we may continue to avoid the Dr. to avoid what we may see on the reports, but what if by neglecting complete exposure of our hearts motives to Jesus, we are quite literally choosing the bondage that Jesus set us free from?
I have had a couple dogs that would try and clean up their own vomit. Not much turns my stomach, but I can hardly watch that happen and I am compelled to step in immediately to stop it from continuing. Jesus doesn't do that with our sin. He want's true worshippers, not puppets, but going back to what Jesus set us free from is like a dog quickly returning to what the body rejected.
"As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly."
Proverbs 26:11
My encouragement is that the quiet space moves from being the place we avoid, to the place we run to. None of us want to be enslaved, but sometimes we wouldn't know that by the things we wont' let go of. Friend, this doctor is really good and our time is well spent assessing the conditions of our heart with with him. He may ask you to divide yourself from the ways of the world, but it's for your good and his glory. The other side of those conversations may be unknown both in timing and purpose, but he has yet to be proven unworthy, and he won't start now.
