Today at work during our lunch break this one employee had a piece of pizza. I asked him where he got it from and he said it was some place close to where his wife works by the Nascar hall of fame. Another employee said “oh S’barros”? He replied, “no an Italian place”…..
Hallways of the Heart & Soul
The love of God is not earned, it is given. Therefore, it is not our duty to earn God’s love but to accept it.
Are you trying to set out and do? Are you trying to go out and be instead of realizing that you are? All that we do comes from who we already are in Him.
Andrew Farley
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.
There is a difference between being in someones presence and someones presence being in you.
Rob Bell
Italian.
Vacuum.
I hate vacuuming. There. I said it. I just needed to get that off my chest. Not that confessing this to you really eases any of the burning hatred that I have for vacuuming off of my soul. This doesn’t come as any surprise to my lovely wife. She has to remind me at least 7 times that it’s my turn to vacuum before I actually get up enough will power to do it. I usually have to hype myself up like a high school football player getting ready to take the field at the state championship game. In my mind I usually say things like, “This is your moment Zach! It’s go time! It’s now or never!! Time to shine! 4th and goal on the 1 yard line with 1 second on the clock and the only thing between you and glory is dust particles!!!! No one can hold you back! No way, no how, NOT IN MY HOUSE!!!!!” I then jump off the couch and run to get the vacuum cleaner out, plug it in the wall and promptly lose focus, walk away, and to try to find a reason not to vacuum. Truth be told I think my wife hates it just as much as I do; that’s why it’s always my turn to vacuum. ;)
I think I hate vacuuming so much because I ALWAYS seem to vacuum up the wrong stuff. You know, the stuff you try to avoid but end up sucking right up anyways. Things like shoe strings, rugs, carpets, cables, computer chargers, phone chargers, coins, earrings, nose rings, bed sheets, rocks, video game wires, tv wires, towels, or anything with stringy frayed edges draped over bedside tables (yes I vacuum this one especially every time). It’s so annoying because you have to stop the vacuum (if it hasn’t exploded or burned the motor up yet), bend over and unwind whatever has been sucked up and twisted a million times around the rotating brushes, and then start the whole process over again only to fail a couple feet later. I’m really praying about investing our money into one of those little robot vacuums that just aimlessly wonders around the house like a nomad in the Arabian desert.
I was thinking the other day about how our hearts are like vacuums. And when I say “heart” I don’t mean the literal heart. I’m talking more of the metaphorical heart. Our literal heart would be more like a pump and I’m not writing about pumps today so yeah our hearts are like vacuums. They were designed to constantly pull, constantly draw, and constantly look for something. The book of Genesis talks about God creating man and woman in His image. He did so by making man out of the dust of the ground and then He breathed His breath into man. Man became alive. Some think that this breathing breath into man was symbolic of something. God would have been face to face with man when He breathed His breath into mans nostrils. And so this is thought to be a picture of the face to face relationship that God wants with us. God breathed life into the first man and He continues to do so today with us who follow Jesus. After God breathed His breath into humanity, He then put man and woman in a garden and the bible says that God literally walked with them in the garden. This truly is an amazing thing to comprehend. God was literally present with the first humans. Now remember God created our hearts to be like vacuums. To constantly pull, constantly draw, and constantly look for something. This something is actually designed by God to be a Someone: God. When man and woman were in the garden everything was perfect. Because God was there. And because everything was perfect because God was there the only thing the first humans hearts did was constantly fill itself with God. With love. With hope. With acceptance. With joy. With peace. With everything that God is. They were naked. Some think that this was symbolic of how secure they were in God. They were so focused on God giving them their identity and security that they didn’t need clothes or ANY material thing to give them identity and security. Their hearts were secure and fulfilled in God alone. Humanity was good because its heart was filled with God. But we all know things didn’t stay this way. Man chose to try to fill his heart with something other than God. And because God is love He allowed man to act on his choice. Sin entered and shattered everything. Sin divided man and God. Therefore, mans heart no longer was pulling in God but began pulling in whatever he thought could give him love, acceptance, security, hope, everything God had been giving it.
Unfortunately for some the story remains the same today. People everywhere trying to fill their hearts by letting it pull in a million things in order to be fulfilled. The sad thing about it is that when we try to fill our hearts with anything other than God we begin to spiral out of control because those things never satisfy. We see it when 5 mintues looking at porn becomes 4 hours….one more drink becomes six….one innocent email to a co-worker becomes an affair that destroys families. Hunger for money, possessions, social status, sex, human approval, and accomplishments only leads to more hunger for money, possessions, social status, sex, human approval, and accomplishments. It is a never ending cycle that only leaves us emptier and emptier.
For others, for ones that have chosen to believe that God wants to fill our hearts with everything we need and desire, something else has happened. Jesus came to bring us back together with God. Jesus mended the rift that was torn between man and God. Our hearts can once again begin to find everything they were designed for in God: relationship, acceptance, love, security, hope, joy….and the beat goes on. So we have a choice: Do we allow God to fill our hearts and find everything we were made for and everything we are looking for or do we attempt to fill our lives with something else like shoe strings, rugs, carpets, cables, computer chargers, phone chargers, coins, earrings, nose rings, bed sheets, rocks, video game wires, tv wires, towels, or anything with stringy frayed edges draped over bedside tables?
