Hebrews 10:22 ~ ‘Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.’
If you’ve followed me at all, you know that John and I like to participate in 5ks. I’ve often joked that it’s a miracle I can even do them… let alone finish! The fact that my body carries me across that finish line is something for which I’m truly thankful. Seriously, the human body is an incredibly miraculous example of God’s creation, isn’t it? Think about all of the intricate details and systems that have to work together just for us to be able to take a breath. How anyone could have even just a basic understanding of the human body and still deny there’s a creator behind it that loves is us beyond me. I mean, we have a respiratory system that lets us breathe in life giving oxygen and expel out carbon dioxide. We have a skeleton and a muscular system that gives us the ability to walk and move and perform countless physical activities. We can see, taste, hear and feel things. That doesn’t even begin to include this magnificent brain He’s given us.
At the center of all of this amazing activity is the heart. Nothing happens in our body without it. The heart pumps life giving blood to every part of our anatomy. If that’s not working, nothing is working. I’ve been thinking about the comparison of our physical bodies to the body of Christ, or the church. Christ, of course, is the center. He’s our heart.
Proverbs 4:23 ~ ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.’
To take this analogy a bit further, let’s talk about our veins and arteries for a minute. The veins in our physical bodies carry blood to the heart. They rely on our muscle movement in order to do that job. I believe this is like our pathway of life prior to Christ. We relied on ourselves in order to make it through life. We all have our sinful past that has brought us to where we need the life giving blood of Christ. As Christians, that has brought us, hopefully, to Christ as our center.
Once these veins get the blood to the heart, it is processed there and sent back out via the arteries. The arteries are responsible for carrying the blood to the rest of the body. They rely on the pumping action of the heart in order to get it to where it needs to be. The arteries carry this life giving blood to every corner of our physical body. They cannot do their job without the heart.
In the same way, once our sinful past has caught up with us and we realize we need the saving blood of Christ, He becomes the center of our lives. Our job becomes carrying the gift that God has bestowed on us to the rest of the world. We are to accept the gift of life we have been blessed with and carry that message out to everyone we can, to every corner of the world.
Mark 16:15~ ‘And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.’
We all have our own story, our own pathway that we’ve traveled in life. Just like the veins in our body, no one vein follows the same path as the other. But no matter what your past or what road brought you to this place in life, we all have to admit at some point that we need the purification of our ‘heart’. We all need Jesus Christ and the life giving gift of salvation. Once we’ve received this amazing gift from Christ, it becomes our job to carry that message out to everyone we can. This is the Great Commission. We are to carry the good news of eternal life and the life giving blood of Jesus Christ, the heart, the center of the body of Christ, to the rest of the world.
Don’t think, even for a second , that your past, your testimony, isn’t valuable and can’t be used to God’s glory. Each vein and tiny little artery in our bodies has a purpose and is used in the production of giving our bodies life. Your pathway and role in the body of Christ is important. Your job, your duty, is to use that testimony to bring the gift of life to others. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that because your particular story isn’t dramatic or grand that it isn’t an important story to tell. God can and will use it to His glory.
Place God in the center of your life. Let Him be your heart. Use your unique pathway and rely on Him to help you carry this life giving gift of salvation to the rest of the world.
John 20:21 ~ ‘Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.’