Author: Bill Kirkwood

A Grateful Heart

Posted on by Bill Kirkwood

This Sunday my pastor is preaching from Psalm 51… written by King David when he was confronted by Nathan the prophet after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. This morning in our staff prayer time we looked at the background passage for this psalm. 2 Samuel 12 is the story behind Nathan’s rebuke. Nathan brings the words of an angry God to David:

            “I anointed you king over Israel… I gave your master’s house to you…I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.”

 David had seen God’s goodness in so many amazing ways. Yet he wanted the one thing he was forbidden to have…another man’s wife. When he took her, serious consequences followed. 

Sound familiar? Remember Adam and Eve? Surrounded by all the bounties of a glorious garden, able to walk and talk with the Creator, they still wanted more. They wanted the one thing they were forbidden to take. When they ate of the fruit, serious consequences followed.

What about me? How many times am I aware of the miraculous gifts God has showered upon me? Life. Health. Loving family. A relationship with my Savior with infinite love and grace. God gives more than I could ever imagine and certainly more than I deserve. Yet how many times do I want more…a little more money…a bigger house…a nicer car……this person to like me…greater respect from others. Dissatisfaction sets in and I find myself dwelling on what I don’t have rather than the bounties I do have. Serious consequences follow.

Like David, I also deserve to hear the words,

“Why did you despise the word of the LORD?”

 

And like David I need to come to the point where I can say,

“I have sinned against the LORD.”

 

Finally, I long to hear, “The LORD has taken away your sin.”

With His help my desire is to spend more time remembering His goodness to someone upon whom He chooses to shower His blessings, and to allow that remembering to overcome my short-sighted desire to covet what I do not have. The result? A grateful heart. Closer dependence on God. More peace and joy in life.

That’s my prayer for each of us. It begins with a grateful heart.

Sparkling Hearts

Posted on by Bill Kirkwood

One of the first verses I memorized as a new Christian was Jeremiah 17:9,

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

 

Since then I’ve heard many sermons & lessons on how bad my heart is, how if left to myself, I have no good thoughts or inclinations toward God. After years and years I have become almost untrusting of my heart, the thoughts that come from its depths, and its basic nature. It can be confusing because I believe somewhere in there, even on my own, there must be some kernel of goodness, some dormant seed of desiring God.

Last week as I was pondering this a bit more, I looked over to my bookshelf and saw a book by John Eldredge called “Waking The Dead: the Glory of a Heart Fully Alive,” given to me years ago by some dear friends. As I looked at the title I thought, “That sounds like something I need right now.” In it Mr. Eldredge reminds me that the heart is the seat of my soul, not just my emotions. The creation of the heart was not described in Genesis 3 after the fall. It was described in Genesis 1 as being “very good,” desiring God, in perfect communion with Him. That’s how God designed our heart!

The fall of the first Adam resulted in a “blanket” of sin being cast over my heart. But underneath is an awareness that there is more to this life. Like Mr. Anderson at first only vaguely aware of The Matrix around him, we know there’s something better for us. However we do not need to take a red pill to discover it. We need a relationship with the Heart-Creator of Genesis 1. He is able to throw off the blanket and reveal what our heart, and we ourselves, are designed to be.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.      2 Corinthians 3:18

 

The LORD their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.  Zechariah 9:16

 

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;       Romans 7:22

 

This is God’s design for us…to be glory-reflectors, to be sparkling jewels, to delight in His word. We must realize there is an enemy (The Matrix called Satan) that wants us to live defeated, unenlightened, powerless lives that serve his dark purposes. But as we begin to live the victorious, glory-reflecting, power-filled life for which The Heart-Creator designed us, we will be the world-changers that Jesus Christ wants His followers to be.

It’s time to throw off the blanket and sparkle in His land!!

Don’t bash my Bride!

Posted on by Bill Kirkwood

The following is a fictitious story…

My brother wrote on FB the other night: “My brother’s wife is a lying hypocritical cheat. She says she loves him more than anyone else but if she had to choose between her “stuff” and her husband she’d ditch him in a sec. She says she wants to be generous to others with their money but she spends it all on herself. I love her as my sister-in-law, but I’m hoping by calling her out like this that she’ll see what she’s doing and change.”

After the initial shock led to deeper shock and anger I called my brother. Not a pretty confrontation. I told him I knew there were problems but that I loved my wife more than anyone else. She is my lovely bride of more than 25 years. I said I know there are struggles in our marriage and that we are working on them. Calling her out on FB was not going to help her change. It only aggravates the issues. Many of the actions he attributed to her happened years ago. To his credit, when he first became aware of her attitudes he worked within our family to help her. We had quite a few conversations around the dining room table. Understandably she got upset, but in the end she began to understand and listen. But she did not change as fast as he wanted her to nor in the ways he thought she should change. Thus the FB rant.

Through the past few years, with counseling and open discussions between us, she is making some huge changes. And we’re growing closer together and more in love with each other every day.

****

End of fictitious story. A few questions about this story…

  • Why do some Christian brothers and sisters insist on trying to correct the Bride of Jesus by publicly slamming her for all her faults?
  • Do they really believe that by publicly writing scathing indictments, the Church, or a church, will really change?
  • Do they not think Jesus is perfectly aware of all Her faults yet loves her with everything He has anyway? Don’t they believe He has the power to bring about change in His Bride?
  • What does Jesus think of his brothers writing about His Bride in this way? I know how I feel, but what about Jesus?
  • Is there a role for an Old Testament-style prophet who declares the faults of the Church and God’s displeasure over them?
  • Or is the New Testament model of gentle shepherd more what Jesus desires for those who want to help His bride?

Mull it over and tell me what you think. I’ll give you my take later.

***Disclaimer: my real brother, Rich, would never EVER do anything like this, nor is my wife anything even remotely close to the story described above.