Is Your Heart in the Right Place?

Hundreds of years before Jesus came, a prophet named Zechariah spoke to God’s chosen people.  His teachings are recorded in the Bible today in a book named after him, and they are considered holy scriptures by most major monotheistic religions.  Zechariah is mostly remembered for his prophecy of four horsemen, but his book has so much more to teach us.

In the middle of that book, Zechariah addresses a question of fasting.  A fasting ritual had long been established to seek God’s help in dealing with terrible circumstances that had fallen the nation of Judah.  The people wanted to know if God wanted them to continue fasting.  It was almost as if they were asking impatiently, “Do we need to keep doing this?”

God’s response delivered through Zechariah was pretty clear.  He questions why they were fasting in the first place.  He recounts how the previous prophets gave them clear instructions and they ignored them.  He reminds them that the terrible things that happened to them came as a result of their disobedience.

It is as if God is saying, “I told you to not be evil.  I told you to treat others with justice and kindness.  You did not.  That is why this has happened to you.  I want obedience, not fasting.”

They had gotten so caught up in the religious practice that they forgot what the religion actually taught. 

Over the next few months there will be many religious celebrations around the world.  In the US in particular we will observe Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Hanukkah.  There will be much celebration.  Let us not forget why we celebrate.

Christmas reminds us of the birth of Christ through whom we not only receive forgiveness of sins but are also adopted as the children of God.  Hanukkah reminds us of the rededication of the temple.  (Fun fact: the only person in the Bible ever mentioned to have celebrated Hanukkah is Jesus.)  In the US we will celebrate Thanksgiving, a practice started by puritan Christians and the Wamponoag people to thank God for His provision.

Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas are all great celebrations and have value.  They are hallowed days with God, but they are hollow days without God.

Ceremonies with the wrong heart are empty.  Fasting without obedience is meaningless.  Religion without God is pointless.

Hearts matter more than ceremonies.

A Conversation at 30,000 feet

I am not a guy who typically talks to the people next to me on a plane.  This is mostly as a curtesy to my fellow passengers.  If you are an introvert (as roughly half of all people are) then I would imagine the idea of being strapped to a seat forced to converse with a person you do not know who is already dangerously close to your personal space is about the worst thing that can happen to you.  Thus, as a respectful extravert, I sit in silence and wait for my seat-mate break the ice.

On a recent flight, the ice was broken with a delightful lady who was on her way to teach in central America.  She told me about how she likes to teach because she sees that as the best way to change the world for the better.  She asked what I do, and I told her I do something similar, but I teach the Bible.  This got her talking about spiritual things, and she admitted that she struggled with all the suffering in the world and could not understand why it happens.

She then changed the conversation and asked how I ended up teaching the Bible in Bulgaria.

I told her, that it is a long story that goes back years, but at the heart it connects to her question about suffering in the world.  The reason that there is suffering in the world is because of people.  Our selfishness had led to cheating, dishonesty, immorality, and murder.  The cause of suffering in the world is the heart of humanity, and the world cannot be fixed until hearts are fixed.

We might ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone.”  In that respect, I have never seen bad things happen to good people because I have never met a good person.

We cannot change the world without first having our hearts transformed.  That is why I teach the Bible.  Some turn to politics to change the world through force of government, but the only way to really change the world is to start in the hearts of the individual.  Since I cannot change people’s hearts, I teach them about the one who can and point them to Him.

We make our own suffering.  Jesus came to end it.  Let Him change your heart.

Never at Home--Always at Home

We have been back in the US for over a month now.  After years of our absence, people greet us in different ways.  Some say, “Welcome back.”  Some say, “Great to see you.”  By far the most common however is “Welcome home.”

I always replay to the last one with a polite, “Thanks!  It’s great to be here,” because frankly, it is.  I have missed friends here, I have missed our townhome, and I have missed America.  She is a great country, and she seems to have done well in our absence.  It is great to be back!

Yet, there is a part of me that does not view America as my home anymore.  I have spent most of my adult life living in Europe.  I have not been on this side of the Atlantic for nearly four years.  It feels like a strange land to me, and in that regard it is no longer home.

In another sense however, it is very much home.  I have family who live in the area.  I own property here.  I have lifelong friends in the area.  I have memories, and stories from almost every block in the neighborhood where I live.  Just like Bulgaria.

In America, Sasha and I hang out with our neighbors, have people over for movies and games, are involved in our local church, teach Bible courses, invest in the lives of our co-workers, and love the people around us.  Just like in Bulgaria.

Wherever I am, a part of me is not at home and a part of me is.

The wonderful thing is that I have found a home in both places.  Though a part of me misses the mountains of Bulgaria, a part of me rejoices at once again enjoying the lakes of Minnesota.

It is an interesting life.  I am never at home, because I am always at home.

Mark 10:29-30

"Truly I tell you," Jesus replied, "no one who has left homes or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and for the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields--along with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life."