Another Heart Cry...Will We Listen?

        The words hit me like a slap in the face. “Tami, they say that they follow JESUS and on Sabbath they talk of mercy and peace and forgiveness, then on Monday they look at me like I am dirt and they don’t act like JESUS…and the same thing I see with those who follow Mohammad. They say one thing and then do another…I can’t just stand here and do nothing! They are worse sinners than others who don’t know GOD!”

These words have run through my mind multiple times today. Why?….Why?!…..Why do we not wake up to the true condition we find ourselves in? Why is it that a teenager can see what we seem so blind to? True believers?…Disciples of CHRIST?…GOD’s remnant?…If we were truly these things, would we not allow GOD’s love to shine through us to a dark and hopeless world? Would we not demonstrate the test that JESUS gave for HIS true disciples? “By this all will know that you are MY disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Today I have been hit with the realization that my actions influence others far more than I had wanted to think. I am an open theater to all those around me (by around me I mean any who come in contact with me directly or through indirect contact as well i.e. facebook, email, youtube…). Do I realize the influence for good, or for evil that my life can have in the simplest things I do?

The cry of my friend was not just a slap…it was a knife in my heart. Why? because it is true. We see ourselves as being followers and true believers of GOD, yet do we show this in our interactions with others? Something else my friend told me this morning was “Tami, if a person is a true follower of JESUS, they will not do these things…I am tired of seeing it over and over and over again!” What could I say? That this is a common phenomenon and not to worry about it? That I am used to seeing this? Should I be? NO!!!!!!! The cry in the heart of this young person who wants to live in such a way as to point others to GOD, yet only sees hypocrisy in the very people who profess to be true disciples, is a cry that must not be left unheard! Look up these verses: Rev 2:11,17,29; 3:6,13,22; 13:9. I find it strangely ironic that all these verses start with the phrase, “He that hath an ear…” and then the last one adds a different word and says, “If any man have an ear…” almost as if it is doubtful that men have ears at all! Do we have ears? can we hear? Do we hear the cries for true Christlikeness from those around us? Have we felt the aloneness of Elijah and told GOD that we are the only ones left following HIM? Have we heard the rebuke of GOD saying, “What doest thou here, Tami?…” (1 Kings 19:9) Do we expect GOD to use us to spread HIS good news to the world if we don’t even let HIM live out HIS good news in our own hearts? The words of this young person to me this morning, unfortunately, are words that are too often ignored. We too often brush them aside with the thought that they only pertain to others, not to me. 

This morning, before hearing my friend's hopelessness about those who profess to follow GOD yet by their actions show a different leader, I read John 19. I was impressed with the terrible burden of guilt that would hang over me if I didn’t know that JESUS had risen from the grave. And then the realization that this guilt that should be crushing every ounce of life out is lifted from my shoulders by the very one who should be laying it on, filled me with awe. This realization of the complete grace and unspeakable mercy of GOD brought home the words of my young friend even more. My GOD gave so much to save me and this is how I repay that gift of love?! When will we recognize that WE CAN’T CHANGE OTHERS, but that by GOD’s grace we can let HIM change us? As long as I wait for others to change I will be waiting to my death and to the death of the others that have followed my example. 

O LORD, may we see our faults and turn to YOU for help!

And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O LORD GOD, You know”…Thus says the LORD GOD to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.” Ezekiel 37: 3,5,6

GOD can do the impossible, will we let HIM start with us?