State You're In

State You’re In:

As I was making my coffee just now I thought about how much I like iced coffee. The flavor is different to me. Maybe it’s in my head, or maybe there’s something about the ice that changes the flavor; either way it tastes different.

As I was making the coffee I had a thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if you could put ice into a regular coffee maker and make iced coffee?” Even as I was thinking it I realized how silly that was. You can’t put ice in a standard coffee maker and expect it to make anything. It’s designed to take water and boil it. Then it runs that steaming hot water over the coffee grinds to make coffee.

That led me to consider how fickle and stubborn we are when it comes to our relationship with God. We’d like to think that the state we’re in doesn’t really matter when it comes to relationships. But the truth is that the state we’re in really does matter. Just like a coffee maker can’t do anything with ice - God can’t (more accurately won’t) do anything with an unrepentant heart.

A heart that is filled with malice, bitterness, hatred, lust, perversion, and corrupted by idolatry cannot be used for anything because it is in the wrong state. Hearts of stone must be broken. Hearts of ice must be defrosted.

In John 9:31 we read, “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.” Elsewhere, in Proverbs 28:9 we read, “If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable.”

Are you someone who listens to God’s instructions? Christ gave several imperative commands throughout the four gospels. These include: repent, celebrate/remember Christ, disciple, pray, give, teach, and love.

The amazing thing is that God literally made it dummy proof for us. God knew that we, like the Pharisees, scribes, and teachers of the law, would turn something as wonderful as His love into something twisted and ugly. So the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The real test of the sinfulness of your heart is this, “How well are you loving your neighbor?” Are you reading the Bible with lost people? Are you inviting neighbors, coworkers, and family members to church? Are you mindful of others and consider them as more important than yourself in all things? Who are you loving because Christ loved you first?

God didn’t say that loving God was the ultimate test. No, Scripture tells us that loving our neighbor is the ultimate test. It’s easy to pretend that we love God. We can do “churchy” things. We can read the Bible, sings songs, maybe even go to church, but when we make it about us and not others - then we reveal the truth.

Ultimately we reveal that we don’t really care for God because we don’t really care about others. It’s impossible to truly love others when we don’t really love God. So we wrongly convince ourselves “faith is private and personal thing.” Poppycock. God is eternally relational as Holy Trinity and we all were created in Their image (relational) and likeness (altruistic). Religion might be private and personal, but Christian faith never was - nor could it ever be.

What about philanthropists, benefactors, “Good Samaritans,” etc, who are atheists or just “spiritual people?” Those people who reject Christ as LORD and the only way to God, but who build hospitals, visit cancer patients, and do all kinds of good deeds for humanity - aren’t they “loving their neighbor?” The answer is a clear and simple “No.”

It’s impossible to truly love people apart from faith in Christ. “Why?” you ask. Because regardless of how many donations the Mark Zuckerberg’s and Oprah Winfrey’s of the world make, despite the number of hospitals or houses atheists’ build, they’ll never resolve - or even touch - the underlying issue of total human depravity, utter hopelessness, and eternal separation from God. They’re simply giving a bottle of water to a person in the desert. I tastes good for a second, but it doesn’t change anything long term.

Do you want to get out of the desert?

Do you want God to hear your prayers?

Do you want God to perceive what you’re transmitting as something other than horribly dispicable and detestable?

Then consider what state your heart is in. Consider what you’ve done and what you’re doing for others and how you’re putting them before yourself, your needs, your concerns, your comfort, your security... Consider whether or not there is - or will ever be - a single soul that enters into the gates of heaven because of your service and ministry for Christ and His eternal kingdom.

Are you like fresh clean water poured into a coffee pot or, like an ice cube, are you in the wrong state to be useful for anything?

If you recognize you’re in the wrong state, then God is already doing a wonderful thing in you! In Ezekiel 36:26 God promises, “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” Make that your prayer right now and discover what God has always desired for you.

Then spend the rest of your life loving others well.

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley

aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com