13 April 2005 Devotion for Today “The Divided Heart” John 20:27
A preacher once called on an inactive church member who hadn’t been to church in years. He was invited in and sat down in a chair next to a fireplace hosting a roaring fire. After exchanging some small talk, a lull in the conversation ensued when all of a sudden, a bright red coal popped out of the roaring fire and landed on the hearth in front of them. They watched the glowing ember fade and then smolder into an ash. The wayward member looked at his pastor and said, “You don’t have to say a thing. I will be in church next Sunday.
We have been looking at the reasons for doubt and perhaps the most frightening of all the reasons for doubting God is the reason of complacency – the divided heart. Like Jesus, we have to also challenge that divided heart as He said to Thomas in verse 27: Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." The person who sits back and remains uncommitted and apathetic – comfortable with the status quo – needs to be challenged. Jesus challenged Thomas not to be unbelieving, but believing. A divided heart leads to apathy. Apathy leads to doubts. Apathy means to be indifferent or without feeling or emotion. Friends, if you don’t believe deeply and passionately about the things of God, it is very easy to drift into apathy and then into further disobedience. Jesus described the apathetic person in Revelation 3 as being lukewarm. The divided heart makes God nauseated and sick to his stomach.
On Easter Sunday I was happy to see all the people who came out for the service, even the ones who only come at Christmas and Easter. I recall one saying to me a number of years ago, “Reverend, you are in a rut! Every time I come here you are always talking about the resurrection!” But I was even more amazed at the folks who didn't even bother with celebrating the Resurrection. Is it because we have heard about it so much that we simply have lost interest? That’s pretty disappointing when you think about it, because like Thomas their absence betrays the fact that Jesus really doesn’t mean that much to them. They are just too bored with it all. I feel really sorry for our generation. We are about the most topped-out, shallow generation there has ever been. We’ve been so over stimulated by pizzazz and paraphernalia to the point that we are bored with everything. We can’t get excited anymore. Have you ever stopped to realize how shallow we can be at times? I’ve had people say, “I haven’t lost my faith- I still believe in Jesus!” Really! How can someone say that they made personal commitment to Christ at one time when that commitment doesn’t mean that much to them now? How can anyone really lose interest in the One who did the most fantastic thing in all of history? Losing interest in the One who has never ceased to love us and show interest in us. This is why we really have to be on our guard against doubt. Because doubt and mediocity go hand in hand, and here is why. Doubt doesn't think it really makes all that much difference- then it is not worth getting involved enough to find out why. Doubt shows up in commitment. It is a weak faith, a shallow faith if it can be said it is even a faith at all that will hang on only until something else comes up.
Charlotte Elliot wrote the words of a classic hymn that says, “Just as I am, though tossed about, with many a conflict, many a doubt; Fightings and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”
No comments:
Post a Comment