“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
(Ezekiel 36:26 ESV)
Just being honest, at times I look at Jesus’ commands, the Apostles’ directives, and the continuance of the 10 Commandments and feel overwhelmed. I know I am not alone. Few of us really want to hear practical application sermons about what God expects of us. If you “Amen!” a “tithing is the minimum for monetary giving” sermon, you are definitely eating the solid food of our shared faith. Yet in it all, our Lord tells us “my yoke is easy, my burden light”.
How then do we go from sluggishness (at best) or “Jesus meant something else when He said that”(at worst) to forgiving, loving, giving, hoping, tithing, speaking boldly, turning the other cheek, working as for the Lord, and gouging out our eye before we transgress a Commandment all while calling it easy? What is more, desiring to do all these things? In a word: religion.
We must understand that growing into a person molded in the likeness of Jesus is His work in us. It is of our Father to give us this new heart and work His righteousness in us. This is not and will not be done in a vacuum-sealed chamber. He has chosen prayer, fellowship, preaching, worship, marriage, the family, simple obedience, and suffering as tools to work His righteousness in His people, us.
And we know that in all these things He works for our good. Whatever happens His hand is in it. He does bring people together that they may grow together. He does lead our eyes to heaven that we may know joy. He does raise up leaders and teachers and the bold that they may bare witness of the Truth. He does give money to His servants that money may be given and used for His Glory. He does not cause evil, but He does preserve faith amidst evil. His Glory will be know to His Church!
Grace be with you,
Jason
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