You Gotta Have Heart

December 10, 2007

By Jerry Scott

The marriage was in trouble. She was finished, she said, no longer willing to play second fiddle to his car, his friends, his sports, the TV, the kids and his job. As we talked I found that he never forgot their anniversary, showed up with flowers from time to time, and paid the bills. But through her tears she explained that she could not recall a conversation about their shared dreams, about their hopes, about what love meant to him.

"I feel," she said, "like another one of his investments."

Many is the husband who is mystified by that kind of statement. "What does she want?" he asks angrily. "I pay the bills, provide well for our family. Isn't that enough?"

If a couple wants a marriage with intimacy, that goes the distance and is fresh and alive well into old age, it isn't enough.

Great marriages include the heart. We all want to be loved for more than for what we do. We want to be desired, to be valued for who we are. In my own marriage, I want that kind of love with Bev. Sure, I appreciate her part in making our home function, but I also want that kind of connection that lets our eyes meet from opposite sides of a room full of people and communicate "I love you!" I want to know her well enough be able to finish her thoughts.

Jesus wants us to love Him in that way. He wants more than our tithe, more than our regular attendance at church, more than our dutiful Bible reading, or "Lord, bless my day," functional prayers. He wants our hearts to yearn for Him as the Center of Life.

Heartless Christianity is all too common in my opinion. Sincere believers do all the right things and have an orthodox confession, but their hearts are full of the "other stuff" of life. You may find Jesus' words harsh, but they are true. Take a look.

"I can see it now -- at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here' " (Matthew 7:22,23, The Message).

The prophet Isaiah indicted the people of God with a similar judgment. "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men" (Isaiah 29:13, NIV).

So, what does "heart" look like? Maybe you're like that husband who wondered, "What more does she want anyway?" You point to the things you do for God, or at least you think you're doing them for Him. Consider that you may, in fact, be acting from very selfish motives. Your "acts of worship" may be more about keeping up appearances or staying on God's good side than about real passion for Him and for the Kingdom.

Heart-deep devotion to God is a love that informs daily choices, that draws us into prayerful reflection often through the day, and that gives us eyes that see God at work, even in the small things. It keeps us from chasing the illusions of happiness that the tempter dangles in front of us. It makes us authentic and preserves us from shallow religion. If we love the Lord with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength we will take great care not to offend Him with careless or sinful choices -- not just to avoid judgment, but because causing Him to be disappointed brings us terrible pain.

Keeping this love alive requires daily attentiveness just like keeping a marriage fresh requires constant communication. If we want to love God from the heart, we will have to wrestle with Him, seeking to know His will, listening to discover His plan, and working through the surprises that make us wonder if He cares. Yes, even those who love Jesus Christ with their whole heart find themselves angry and/or disappointed from time to time. But, they don't turn to another lover in that moment. Instead, they pursue Him, wait on Him.

Passionate Christianity will produce a person of amazing depth of character. The Bible says that they will have the fruit of the Spirit in abundant evidence -- "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22,23). Don't confuse great works, big ministries, or long, windy prayers with passion for Jesus. Don't confuse effusive emotionalism with love for Him, either.

Look for love's evidence.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

"Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

-- Jerry D. Scott is senior pastor at Washington (N.J.) Assembly of God.