Unforeclosable House

“As we were praying, I got an image of a house of
forgiveness,” I said to the small group, sitting on comfortable chairs at the
leader’s house. After discussing the nature of sin, we’d finished small group
with a brief prayer time. As we had explored some of the ways we miss God’s
mark, a couple of people had questioned God’s forgiveness. Smiling, I
continued, “It is a house God has provided for us. We can eat and sleep and
rest in it, almost with a sense of taking it for granted.”

The leader looked thoughtful. “Good image.” We left then,
gathering our coats against the cold night.    

Later, snuggling under my down comforter, I thought, “taking
for granted” isn’t quite the right phrase, but it’s close. Forgiveness is the
house a Christian lives in. When we turn toward him, away from sin, Jesus gives
us the keys to the house he’s purchased for us. We can count on its solidity. 

It’s a slate-roofed brick house with a poured cement
foundation that extends beyond the frost line. Overstuffed recliners hold us. The
winds of guilt and fear may rattle the windows, but they will not blow the
house down. Within these walls, we are safe.    

In addition, we needn’t fear foreclosure. Some, though, with
oversensitive hearts, may wander the streets, thinking they’ve been forced out.
Sounds silly, doesn’t it? How does a house without a mortgage get put in
foreclosure? And yet, some of us easily believe God to be mad at us, even foreclosing
on a house he’s already paid for.    

Father, Son, Spirit. Again, we thank you for your precious
blood-bought forgiveness. Without forgetting that price, may we relax in its
shelter.

 

 

Pure Motives?

The other day my husband told me about a man who traded in
his hybrid Honda Civic for a Prius, the Toyota hybrid. The Civic looked too much
like a traditional car and he wanted the attention the Prius drew. In some quarters
of American society, there’s a new kind of “green conspicuous consumption.”
We brag about our gas mileage, we buy carbon offsets for our plane trips,
and we are snapping up books on how to build and buy “green.” Do we really
care about the poisoning of the earth or do we want the attention we get for going green?
Hard to tell. The fellow who traded cars because he wanted the attention makes me wonder.
Could be that he just wanted the opportunity to spread the gospel of green.

Someone once said a freeing thing to me: “No one has pure motives.” I’d been moaning
to him that I’d wanted attention; that’s why I’d given a communion meditation
in service that day. The thought was freeing because, like all perfectionism,
purity was unobtainable. I could confess my impurity and ask God to purify my motivation,
certainly, but I didn’t need to mope around, punishing myself for my mixed
motives.

Only God, who has absorbed our guilt into his vast heart, is
pure. He is working toward a glorious future that we can all be part of. He
acts, not for selfish attention, but for selfless good. Actually, I can hardly
imagine that kind of selflessness. I must confess, mostly I just like attention
for my own good deeds, green or otherwise. Maybe you understand that. 

Oh, Lord, reorient our hearts, away from attention-seeking, toward
your good purposes.

Filling God’s Heart

Blog_valentine_08_2

 

One morning, when my
daughter was young, I turned to her as she played with her dolly on the kitchen
floor and said, “There’s a Jenny Rabbitt-shaped place in God’s heart that only
you can fill.” She wasn’t particularly impressed. 

But for me, it was one of those utterances that felt like
the Holy Spirit himself. I must have been pondering Pascal’s famous line about
there being a “God-shaped space” in our hearts. But that spontaneous sentence
was a new perspective. 

If God has a special place for each of us in his heart, we
are each special. And how much we long to be special to someone! We want one
person to reach out their hand toward us. We want one person to hold us against
their beating heart. We want one person so close that we can finish each other’s
sentences. 

Many of us do not have a human being that close and on this
Valentine’s Day, perhaps we especially long for someone. Jesus, too, longs for someone
close. Though in his vast heart he has already made room for millions, he has
reserved a space made especially for you. On this Valentine’s Day, may we sense
his longing for us to move into that space. 

Jesus, please draw us more deeply into your great heart,
where you have made a special space, just for us.