A Matter of the Heart: A Modern Parable

-The prophet Isaiah once said, "this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me." (Isaiah 29:13)

There was once a young college student, who had most of the answers...at least she thought she did.  She was a religious person who had been raised in the church and in youth group....when she got to college she became a part of a campus Bible study group that strengthened her convictions and she became even more convinced she was right...about everything!  She was growing in understanding and in her beliefs, and wanted everyone else to be as enlightened as she was.

The problem came though, when she went to class.  She was put in study and research groups with people who were different, people who believed differently, worshipped differently, and even some who didn't believe in God at all.  She was not deterred, though.  She became determined to convince her classmates.  During study and lab breaks, she would tell them the great truths that she felt that they needed in life.  They didn't respond...but that was not a surprise...they didn't see as clearly as she did...it might take some time.  As the semester wore on, though, the young college student became more and more discouraged as her classmates ignored her, avoided her, or sometimes pushed back with disdain.  They clearly were not getting the message. 

In prayer one night, the college student laid her concern before God:  "God, you know how I am, and how committed I am to you...I only want others to know you as I do, I want them to be committed too.  I have tried to spread your word and your message, but they don't seem to be listening....what should I do...what should I do?  I only want to change them!" 

After a few anxious moments her heart felt something different, in her mind and in her heart she heard God whisper these words, "you will change them....but before you can do so, you must love them...not for what they will become, not for what you want them to be...you must love them as they are right now....(but, it was what God said next that almost sent her to the floor)....and when you do this, I will change you too." 

Feeling somewhat humbled she went to class and study group the next day.  During the break, she wanted to tell them the latest thing she learned in Bible study that she thought they needed to know, but instead pulled the one of her classmates aside and asked about him, where he came from, what he loved most in life, what he wanted to do with his days and years.  He was a bit taken back, thought it might be some kind of a set up just to get her point of view across...but reluctantly he began to answer her questions.  And for the first time, they really talked...at least with each other.  She repeated this over and over with those that she previously only wanted to instruct.  She was amazed at what many of them had gone through, where life had taken them, what they valued.  She better understood who they were.  In time she told her story to them, and they better understood who she was and what was important to her.  They became friends....some came with her to Bible study, others still had questions and were not yet comfortable, but that didn't matter... friendships were born and that changed everything. 

One night at Bible study, the group leader asked an important question..."how has God changed you this semester?"  The young college student thought back to that night she was praying and God said, "...and I will change you, too!"  She was the last to speak up in the group.  A bit nervous she said, "I see now, that I used to have all of the right words and the right answers, even the right beliefs...I thought everyone else needed to be just like me, but, my heart, my heart was far from God....God showed me that in prayer one night, and now everything has changed.  I am still me.....but I can love other people with God's love, I have made new friends, I don't feel compelled to change them, only to love them and I trust that God will help those seeds to grow as God sees fit.  It is no longer the old me who lives, it is Christ who lives in me...I am a new creation." 

Jesus once said, it is not what goes into a person that defiles them or even makes them righteous, but rather it is what flows from the heart. 

We can have all of the right beliefs and our heart still be far from God!  To use an old phrase...it is a matter of the heart. 

As these days of summer slowly turn into fall......how has God changed your heart this summer?  If you can't answer, what do you need to let go of (like the young college student), or who do you need to learn to love for that change to happen?