Two Hearts

Two hearts I found in my travels today.  One heart is soft, green moss.  The other heart is hard stone.  I want my heart to be soft in loving the Word and in relationships with others.  The Bible tells us God will take away our hearts of stone and give us new hearts living in His joy.  But, we are also instructed to stand firm against all evil and even to stand firm in the evil day.  Read Romans chapter 12 today and think about the two hearts.  

A Sacrificial Heart

Romans 12:1 begs us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable.  This is our “reasonable service”. That means we don’t get extra points in God’s grace.  We never earn our position before God.  The self sacrifice is just something we do.  But I think we would all admit, this doesn’t come naturally.  Our heart must be soft toward God.  There is nothing we would refuse Him because we love Him.  We need to pray for His spirit to soften our hearts toward His will.  But our heart must be hard as stone about our own feelings and desires that would shrink back from our rightful service.  Keep reading in the chapter and you will see the perfect picture of faith lived out in the body of Christ.  All the deep theological teachings in the earlier chapters are now brought into the every day life.  Paul does not give space for armchair theologians . There is no room there for sentimentality that cannot not withstand the trials of life and interaction with other fallen people.  

Trials of Fire and Ice

Here in the state of Maine where I live the beauty of the land is admired by many.  Our rugged, craggy shoreline and granite mountains blanketed with spruce and fir attract sight-seers and hikers alike.  Even our favorite foods, lobster, potatoes and the scruffy wild blueberry share a certain hardness and perseverance. Our beautiful landscape, formed by flood, fire and glacial ice, is exactly what God wants it to be.  As I walk through the woods behind my house, I have all the blessing of those now ancient trials.  I can be blessed by the spot of moss grown into a heart shape.  I can be awed at the hard grey stone broken off of something much larger and now a heart.  Romans 12:12 tells us to rejoice in hope and to be patient in tribulation continuing instant in prayer.  The Holy Spirit is speaking through Paul, a man who understood trials.  Paul could seem hard and stern in his teaching sometimes but his heart was soft toward God and toward the well-being of the flock.  Our Christ-like character must be strong to stand in defense of the body of believers.  

Soft Hearts Support the Body

The soft mossy heart is not living in isolation.  It gets nourishment from the soil beneath and the rain above.  From a distance it looks like the moss grows for itself but a very close inspection there are many incests that call this place their home and many more creatures supported by the wet film that often clings to the moss.  The humble moss is responsible for much of the oxygen production in the world as well.  Romans 12 tells us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think.  Like moss, we should be humble and live near the roots.  Romans 12 also reminds us we are just one part of a much larger body.  Just as our internal organs don’t try to go off by themselves, we must be connected to the larger body of believers always loving, sheltering and supporting.  

Romans 12 ends with the command “Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.”  Strong in defense, firm in the faith, patiently loving and cheerfully giving to the life of the body just like the hearts of stone and moss.