What if there was someone who could look inside you – look into your soul and see its color? What if you could go to this person, and she would tell you whether or not your were really a good person… if you really had a good heart? And this person was completely reliable. This was not a parlor trick to make money. This was the real deal – objective if you will. How cool would that be?
Now imagine this person exists, and you go to her, and she says, “Yes, you are pure of heart.” How profoundly would that change the way you live?
Doubt would be gone. The scream of guilt would be muted. The feeling of “not being good enough” would fade away. You would know that you are pure, good, healthy; that nothing was wrong with you.
Is that appealing to you? It is to me.
So often I feel like I’m a bit of a fraud. I feel like the downstairs of my “house” is in good order and ready for guests, but the upstairs is a mess, and no one is allowed up there. Maybe I’m the only one that feels this way, but I have a feeling that I’m not.
So what if someone could look at you and tell you, “You’re fine! Your house is clean. Let the guests roam!” To me, that would be incredible.
But isn’t that kind of what the sacrifice of Jesus has done for us? We can start seeing ourselves as “pure of heart,” no matter what kind of impurity we’re used to. Jesus is that person. He looks at us and says, “Run along now. It’s all good. Forget that old stuff. Live this new stuff.” How incredible!
And when we say, “But I didn’t make the bed! I didn’t put my clothes away! I think I left the seat up!” Jesus says, “Hey. It’s all good! Forget it. I took care of it.” I like that. God help me to live like that.
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Sounds a lot like what righteousness is. Good thoughts, Jon. This reminded me of the movie, “CHOKE.” Once Victor found out he was destined for something better in life, that more was expected of him since he might be the half-clone of Christ, his behavior, the way he saw himself, all changed. We need more of this kind of theology in the church. Nice post.
Comment by Neville August 17, 2009 @ 11:25 am