This past week I attended my denomination’s, the Evangelical Congregational (EC) Church’s, National Conference at Messiah University. At conference lots of people have asked about my granddaughter, Lily, who was born in January, and who has been on a four-month journey with a heart defect corrected through multiple open heart surgeries. Those conversations have often meandered to those people telling me about other heart stories, including their own.
A missionary told me that he recently had a procedure to fix a nearly one-inch hole in his heart. I was amazed to hear that the hole had likely been there since birth, and he never knew it. He never felt any negative side effects. The outpatient procedure plugged the hole, and heart muscle will grow around the plug. Amazing, isn’t it?
I want to emphasize the part of the missionary’s story of the hole in his heart that he never knew it. If we consider “heart” from a figurative, symbolic perspective, might it be possible that a disciple of Jesus has a problem with their heart for God and doesn’t know it? It is possible.
This coming week on the blog we’re going to study 1st Samuel chapters 13 and 14 to get a heart check-up. We’ll meet someone who thought their heart for God was doing well, and they are surprised to learn they are wrong about their heart. Read it ahead of time, and I look forward to talking about it further!
Photo by Nick Herasimenka on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 