Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Heart Transplant List

“Nothing humbles and breaks the heart of a sinner like mercy and love. Souls that converse much with sin and wrath, may be much terrified; but souls that converse much with grace and mercy, will be much humbled.”~ ~Thomas Brooks (1608 – 1680) ~






I don’t know about you but there is nothing greater than mercy and love. They are both things we need in our lives. No matter how good we try to be we eventually will require some kind of mercy. No matter how unloved we think we are, we are more than loveable in God’s eyes.




It’s sad to think there are souls out there that would rather converse or communicate with sin and wrath rather than mercy and love. Doesn’t make sense does it. It makes me think of someone who likes to play with matches. Eventually if they do it enough they wind up burning themselves. We can toy with the wrath of God all we want but eventually it will catch up to us.




To recognize the danger of a match you have to know what damage it can do. That’s what Smokey the Bear tries to do. To recognize the danger of a sinner’s heart we have to know the damage it can do to us. Once we come into awareness of it its up to us to do something about it. That’s where God’s love and mercy comes in.




In our physical lives if we find out we have a seriously bad heart we put ourselves on a heart transplant list to get it taken care of. If we are lucky to be chosen we may wind up with a heart that works. Spiritually the reaction should be no different as we put ourselves on the transplant list of God. There is no “if we are lucky to be chosen” fear as God so lovingly wants all of us too eventually wind up on “the list.” The list of those willing to accept that love and mercy He has to offer.




We do this by coming to Him with humble and broken hearts. Hearts that say I need you, I want to live for you not me. I have to confess I’ve been on the table several times getting a new heart transplant from God. I get one and then I damage it with things that shouldn’t be only to get another one to damage it as well. It’s not easy having heart problems, cancer, or other issues but its not easy having a sinner’s heart as well. The cure lies with us. The medicine we are required to take is God’s love and mercy.


The desire to be well has to come from us. Only we can prevent a sinner’s heart.


© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

7 comments:

Miriam Pauline said...

"The desire to be well must come from us." Oh, yes. I shudder to think of the times I have chosen to not be well. Thanks for the reminder.

Marsha Young said...

Thank goodness for mercy and love - we all need them everyday.

And isn't it crazy, as you pointed out, that we still, from time to time, "play with the match" of disobedience, even when we know we will get hurt.

No wonder we need an infinite God, with his infinite mercy....Marsha

Twinkle Mom @ Sunflower Faith said...

Thank you so much for the warm welcome...I am and was and is so excited to be a part of,"In Other Words Tuesday" but also was so nervous too and hoping..is this the right quote, this is going to be my first time participating and oh no...linky...how do I do that?

Lol...isn't that how our lives are and sometimes the feeling to of those who don't know Christ or are new to Him...

Imagine starting a job first time and no one helping, no one guiding, no one encouraging but instead, first off, first day on the job, everyone start yelling and telling the new person everything they did wrong and pulling up their history and throwing it in their face....would make me want to quit too...LOL

So the same with the people we need...it's about balance and its about balance with love...God does not yell and scream at us 24/7...He loves us...He gives us grace and salvation and hope and He balances it...He corrects us when He knows we're off the path and gently guides us back..not pushes or shoves...and even to the end, that He does anything and everything He can to to keep us close to Him.

And if we don't...He doesn't rejoices....He weeps and grieves...that is love.

Its a good thing we have an awesome Father as our one and only Father! I think there are times when He must groan as you shared, "play with the match of disobedience", but its not a love with an end, but a love without an end and some of us need it more than others....

You're post was fantastic!

Bonnie W said...

Karen,
I love your illustration of God's "transplant list." LOL!

Isn't God so good? Whenever we are priviledged to see someone come to know him it's like aspiritual pacemaker jolting us back to the memories of newness of heart we felt when we received our own new heart. Gotta love Him! He's so good at fixing heart trouble and keeping our hearts new.
Love you sister!

Tami said...

The cure to a sinner's heart is not anything we do, but it's all Jesus.

Loni said...

Awwww . . . we all need to be on that transplant list! :) Thank you so much for sharing and encouraging.

I was not able to write this week . . . sick kids & little sleep = not much brain power! :)

Cindy said...

No matter how good we try to be we eventually will require some kind of mercy. No matter how unloved we think we are, we are more than loveable in God’s eyes.

I whispered that gentle yes.
These are words I carry with me.
Thank you.