Do You Know the Answer?

~~~ Jeremiah 31:31-34 ~~~ Psalm 51 ~~~ Matthew 16:13-23 ~~~

Jeremiah leads us right into the psalm 51...

Create a clean heart in me, O God.

God revealed to Jeremiah that there would be a new covenant his people.

 "I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

God himself would create this new, clean heart.

A heart that desires to be steadfast...

A heart that desires to be in the presence of God...

A heart that desires to be united with the Holy Spirit...

A heart that desires saving joy...

A heart that desires to always have a willing spirit...

A heart that desires to be contrite and humbled.

God and the psalmist are very ambitious with their desires.

There is no excuse for not knowing God;

he put the desire to know him into your heart himself.

One day as Jesus is talking with the disciples he poses

an important question.

"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"

It is easy to give answers for another person.

You are not required to have insight into what

their answer would actually be.

You just answer by what you have heard them say.

Jesus is not content

to let that be the end of the conversation;

he goes deeper.

Have you noticed how God can do that, get you to go deeper?

He is interested in your answers because he wants

you to have a relationship with him.

If you cannot answer his next question perhaps you might

examine your heart more closely.

"But who do you say that I am?"

I know you have heard this verse many times before,

but today picture Jesus standing before you.

He looks into your eyes as he asks

 'who do YOU say that I am?'

He wants to know what is in your heart.

Is his new covenant of the heart really residing within your heart?

This is a personal question...only you know the answer.

No one is going to make you proclaim your answer before others.

This personal question is a wonderful clue to how much

God desires your heart.

You do not ask questions such as this of those you do not care about.

If God did not love you he would not care who you thought he was.

God does not need us to validate who he is for his sake.

God wants you to validate who he is for you--- for your own sake.

To know who God is for you is to better love him.

To know who God is for you means to love him more.

This all relates back to the clean, contrite, and humble heart we desire;

a desire placed there by the very same God who asks the question. 

"But who do you say that I am?"

Once you can truthfully answer that question

you will ultimately have the heart you desire.

You will know without a doubt that God is for you.

You will know that you are His.

Change the Direction of Your Heart

2 Samuel 12: 1-7a, 10-17

Thomas Keating in Invitation to Love wrote this about the meaning of repent...

We come now to the heart of the problem of the human condition. Jesus addressed this problem head-on in the gospel. What was his first word when beginning his ministry? "Repent." To repent is not to take on afflictive penances like fasting, vigils, flagellation or whatever else appeals. It means to change the direction in which you are looking for happiness.

How profound to think about repentance from that perspective..."to change the direction in which you are looking for happiness."  Through a story told by Nathan David realizes that he must change the direction in which he is looking for happiness. He is filled with such remorse that he refuses to eat, clothes himself in sackcloth, and sleeps on the gound. While sacrificing those things that bring us comfort might appear to be repentent, the change must really occur within the heart.

Thus again today we have the well known Psalm 51. The emphasis today cuts right to the core...Create a clean heart in me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me." A clean heart, a heart that desires what is good and pure. A heart that puts love for God above personal pleasures ans satisfactions. The psalm goes on...Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit sustain in me.

In order to change the direction of your heart it takes more than just saying the words. It takes a willingness to be on guard to be vigilant, to be aware of the former urgings of the heart. Praying while keeping in sight the large crucifix in our church is something that reminds me which direction love originates.

For God so loved the world...that he sent his only begotten son to be with us. David could not hold on to the image of the crucifix, but he did have the love of God in his heart. God sent Nathan to get the attention of David through a simple story.

Throughout the public life of Jesus he told stories, parables, as his primary method of teaching. People can relate to stories because we can visualize the events and our emotions follow accordingly.
So Nathan's story was visualized by David which ignited deep emotion within his heart.

What story or image helps you sustain your willingness to maintain a clean heart?

Original picture: A person with both arms stretched up to the sky.

I chose this image because humility and surrender lead us to true repentance.

This kaleidoscope image incorporates both the darkness of sin and the brightness of a clean heart.

Create in me a clean heart, O God. 

Your word is a light for my path.