Leave it to me to go to the wrong hospital when my Dad is getting heart surgery.
Mom: Are you looking at the emergency room?
Me: Yes.
Mom: Go left and you’ll see a tower that says, “The Heart Center,” in large red letters. It’s at the North end of the building.
Me: Umm.. Okay…
Mom: I don’t see you.
Me: Hmm. I’m at the south end of the building now.
Mom: Why did you go there? I said it’s at the north end.
Me: You said to go left.
Mom: I know
Me: Left is south
Mom: Are you looking at the emergency room?
Me: Yes.
Mom: Go left and you’ll see a tower that says, “The Heart Center,” in large red letters. It’s at the North end of the building.
Me: Umm.. Okay…
Mom: I don’t see you.
Me: Hmm. I’m at the south end of the building now.
Mom: Why did you go there? I said it’s at the north end.
Me: You said to go left.
Mom: I know
Me: Left is south
Mom: No, left is north.
A few more miscommunications and one front desk later, we concluded that both of us were right (or, if you share my mom’s point of view, I was utterly wrong). Needless to say, I missed the surgery.
My dad was in and out in about an hour, though it would be another 37 hours before they actually let him leave- just long enough to spend Thanksgiving in a hospital gown feasting on a cafeteria turkey sandwich and a plastic dish of pumpkin pie.
Not ideal timing.
Or perhaps, it was just perfect.
Had my dad not been scheduled for his quarterly stress test this past Monday, who knows when (or how) he would have discovered the blocked arteries. My dad certainly hadn’t noticed. He went on a 35-mile bike ride the Saturday before and felt great, albeit winded. He just has a “bad” heart, though he doesn’t always feel it and he definitely doesn’t live like it.
Oddly enough, I’m reading a book right now that suggests Christians act the opposite. According to author John Eldredge, president of Ransomed Heart ministries, Christians are hypochondriacs of the heart--we’re constantly crying out for a spiritual bypass, when really, we’re quite heart healthy.
In his book, Waking the Dead, Eldredge suggests that Christians often mistake the daily battle against the sin of our flesh as an inward struggle for the heart. The whole: We do not do what we ought to do or want to do in fact many times we catch ourselves doing the very opposite thing we should do and before you know it we feel a lot like Paul exclaiming, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me!” and we go ahead and suffer a heart attack before we even let Paul finish his sentence.
Well, hear Paul out.
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” (Romans 7:18)
Flesh. Not heart. Sure, we’re at war against daily temptations, the lure of popularity or lust or selfish ambition or business or complacency or just downright laziness—but it’s not our heart that’s at stake. That battle is won.
“I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from you flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” (Ezekial 36:26)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Now. Not later. Christ endured the wrath of God for the sins of the world and rose again to conquer death once and for all, to give us a chance at really living, at knowing God. Our hearts are good. They’d have to be—He makes our hearts his home. (Ephesians 3:17)
We ought to live in light of that.
For many of us, myself the foremost, that means we need to stop living in condemnation and calling it humility.
Starts out innocent enough:
“Lord, teach me to be a servant.”
“Lord, I kind of got busy and forgot. Help me.”
“Lord, I was selfish today. Sorry”
“I should have unloaded the dishwasher without having to be asked.”
“I can’t even go to the right hospital when my Dad is in surgery.”
Conclusion: I’m an idiot. (maybe true, but that’s not the right attitude!)
The difference between shame and humility? Eldredge says, "Shame says, 'I am nothing to look at. I'm not capable of goodness.' Humility says, "I bear a glory for sure, but it is a reflected glory. a grace given to me.'"
A few more miscommunications and one front desk later, we concluded that both of us were right (or, if you share my mom’s point of view, I was utterly wrong). Needless to say, I missed the surgery.
My dad was in and out in about an hour, though it would be another 37 hours before they actually let him leave- just long enough to spend Thanksgiving in a hospital gown feasting on a cafeteria turkey sandwich and a plastic dish of pumpkin pie.
Not ideal timing.
Or perhaps, it was just perfect.
Had my dad not been scheduled for his quarterly stress test this past Monday, who knows when (or how) he would have discovered the blocked arteries. My dad certainly hadn’t noticed. He went on a 35-mile bike ride the Saturday before and felt great, albeit winded. He just has a “bad” heart, though he doesn’t always feel it and he definitely doesn’t live like it.
Oddly enough, I’m reading a book right now that suggests Christians act the opposite. According to author John Eldredge, president of Ransomed Heart ministries, Christians are hypochondriacs of the heart--we’re constantly crying out for a spiritual bypass, when really, we’re quite heart healthy.
In his book, Waking the Dead, Eldredge suggests that Christians often mistake the daily battle against the sin of our flesh as an inward struggle for the heart. The whole: We do not do what we ought to do or want to do in fact many times we catch ourselves doing the very opposite thing we should do and before you know it we feel a lot like Paul exclaiming, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me!” and we go ahead and suffer a heart attack before we even let Paul finish his sentence.
Well, hear Paul out.
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” (Romans 7:18)
Flesh. Not heart. Sure, we’re at war against daily temptations, the lure of popularity or lust or selfish ambition or business or complacency or just downright laziness—but it’s not our heart that’s at stake. That battle is won.
“I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from you flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” (Ezekial 36:26)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Now. Not later. Christ endured the wrath of God for the sins of the world and rose again to conquer death once and for all, to give us a chance at really living, at knowing God. Our hearts are good. They’d have to be—He makes our hearts his home. (Ephesians 3:17)
We ought to live in light of that.
For many of us, myself the foremost, that means we need to stop living in condemnation and calling it humility.
Starts out innocent enough:
“Lord, teach me to be a servant.”
“Lord, I kind of got busy and forgot. Help me.”
“Lord, I was selfish today. Sorry”
“I should have unloaded the dishwasher without having to be asked.”
“I can’t even go to the right hospital when my Dad is in surgery.”
Conclusion: I’m an idiot. (maybe true, but that’s not the right attitude!)
The difference between shame and humility? Eldredge says, "Shame says, 'I am nothing to look at. I'm not capable of goodness.' Humility says, "I bear a glory for sure, but it is a reflected glory. a grace given to me.'"
So let's beam with the confidence of a people who are greatly loved though greatly flawed. Let's boast in Christ and leave the pity party for another day.
Sure, we don't have it all together, but in Christ, our hearts are in the right place. We are not without hope.
"In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
there isn't a like button on this, if there was I would have cliked it...haha I really enjoyed reading it ;) keep them coming :)
ReplyDeletethanks Jessie. miss you girl.
ReplyDelete