The Heart of the Matter

This past weekend I had the privilege of serving in a retreat for students that’s prime purpose is to show and share the love of God with others. After coming home, I find myself humbly returning to the core concept of the weekend message – God loves you! It seems like such a simple concept, but it can take a lifetime to comprehend.

As I reflect over my life and how God has revealed His love to me, it is obvious just how much I still have to learn. Living life with such a powerful and loving God inspires me, empowers me, and encourages me, but it also has the ability to intimidate me, convict me, and challenge me. I hear Jesus say that I am to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, AND my neighbor as myself. The truth is the moment I think I have it down, something happens that shows me just how far I have to go.

Rock-n-roll singer, Don Henley, had a line in his hit song, The Heart of the Matter, which says, “The more I know, the less I understand, and all the things I thought I’d figured out, I have to learn again. I’ve been trying to get down to the heart of the matter, but my will gets weak and my thoughts seem to scatter; but I think it’s about forgiveness…” This represents something known as The Island Theory which states that the more we know, the more we realize how much we do not know. For me, just when I think I have it all figured out, God does, says, reveals, withholds, inspires, convicts, or challenges me with something new that stretches my faith and helps me grow.

Over the past month in worship, we have been exploring the power of God and how it changes the human heart. The Bible teaches that our faith is to rest on God’s power. This is the power that first brought life to our barren planet and the same power that brings new life to our barren lives. Theologian, Søren Kierkegaard once wrote, God creates out of nothing. Wonderful, you say. Yes, to be sure, but He does what is still more wonderful: He makes saints out of sinners."

I am a sinner. I am no saint. After a time of being confronted with God’s relentless pursuit of my heart, I am being called to consider what that means and to commit my life anew to knowing and showing the love of God. It is true that the more I know, the less I understand, but the best news is that God is still revealing His heart and molding me into the person I am called to be. The trick for me, though, is to acknowledge my powerlessness (something we human beings are reluctant to do) and accept God’s gift of grace. As Romans 5.6&8 says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

I suppose this is the heart of the matter: we are all sinners and powerless to save ourselves. God’s relentless pursuit of us shows us that even though we are powerless, we are loved! God’s forgiveness – the same power that makes saints out of sinners – is the mobilized love that empowers us for the sake of sharing His love with the world. It might be harder to understand at certain times than others, but it doesn’t change the fact that God loves you with a powerful love to bring you into His eternal family. Saints out of sinners sinners. Powerful, isn’t it?