Between Head and Heart

I write this to all those of us who call ourselves Christians.

If we are born again - or however we care to describe that amazing miraculous spiritual awakening - it was not because of our attributes or intellect, but through the grace of God. Perhaps someone was praying for us. It was not a mental assent to a spiritual truth, but a personal response of heart and will to God's love, realising that He gave His only Son 'for me.' That was just a beginning of bringing into being in reality within us, what God has made us to be. Nothing can take away or added to that precious salvation, but it has to worked in us to become evident in our experience.

Years ago when I voiced within a group, that I was feeling particularly bereft and unloved, someone said to me "Jesus, loves you, so what's the problem?" The problem was that I needed more of the reality of God's love for me deep down in my experience and I had a longing for more. I had considerable 'head' knowledge but my heart needed to engage more. The problem also was, for the same reason, that person could not identify where I was at.

Those who are hurting inside - and that goes for most of us at some time or other - are very sensitive to what they would call empty words and will sense if it is real for us. They are looking for the Word with flesh on.

We need to be real because there is a whole hurting world needing this reality. God has made it all possible, but most of us are still on the way. God is committed to finishing what He has started, the question is, do we want more and are we prepared to face the pain in the process. My wife and I were at a large church gathering a few years ago, when we were asked to signify whether we wanted to know more of God's love. Surprisingly few hands were raised.

What do our hearts say?

"Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation," Philippians 2:12

"Yes, may you come to know his love - although it can never be fully known - and so be completely filled with the very nature of God." Ephesians 3:19

"Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!" Matthew 5:3 All quotes Good News Bible