What does our heart contain? Is it a litmus for making tough decisions, a reservoir for courage and vigor, or a beautiful chest for our emotions? What if our hearts contained a picture that expressed exactly who we are and everyone could tell? How would we feel being that exposed, that naked, and that undone? How would you feel when the God of the universe saw your picture…?
How many colors or layers do we use to try and spruce up, touch up, or cover up the true picture of our heart with? I know myself my pallet is full of colors to hide who I truly am. I cannot be exposed to the world; I cannot allow others
to see the picture my heart truly paints. Christ confronts this very thought when he states,
Christ is talking to the religious leaders of his day here, men whose pallet runs just as colorful as mine. They were very good at the touch up. However Christ says you will be known, your picture will be seen, it will flow from your lips and you cannot stop it. These are powerful words spoken with absolute accuracy and sobering reality. The prophet Isaiah was a man who had the picture of his heart revealed to him before the one and only sovereign God. Isaiah stands before God in heaven (Isa. 6:1-7) and what we learn is that Isaiah is absolutely devastated by what he realizes to be the picture of his heart. It says,
“Then I said, ‘It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people of filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’”
Isaiah knows what is truly in his heart (it flowed from his lips and they were filthy) and his despair is doubled by the knowledge of what is in his people’s hearts. He knows that he cannot stand and live before the Lord of Heaven’s Armies with such a heart and unclean lips. The Prophet Isaiah is just like me; my heart is filled with jealousy, pride, lust, and hate. We see and know what our picture looks like every day. The hardest part is having our picture exposed. It can be crushing when our friends see it, but it is devastating when the Lord sees it. He sees my painting every moment of every day and yet he restores me just as he did Isaiah and he paints a new picture of my heart, one that rescues me from the shortcomings of my own artwork.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.”
-Psalm 51:10
Very interesting and thought provoking point of view. I, too, don't want anyone to se the real me. Like everyone else, I hide behind the many carefuly built layers and walls I've built. But th eLord has a way of crashing threw all of that and exposing the real you, at least to yourself so you can rebuild a better you. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with such honesty!
ReplyDelete