Burning Hearts - No. 41
I have been thinking about one sentence a lot lately. I believe that it holds a key to understanding how we each should expect to feel in response to Jesus. I would like to share it with you and invite you to join me in pondering these powerful words.
On the third day after Jesus was crucified, two of his disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus, talking intently with each other about everything that had happened the last few days. They walked in sorrow, uncertainty, and disappointment. As they talked, a third person that they didn’t recognize started walking alongside them. When the man asked what they were discussing, the two disciples were shocked that this man didn’t seem to know what had just happened. Jesus of Nazareth had been killed. Then, as they walked, this stranger began to open up the scriptures to them and explain things they hadn’t understood. When they arrived at Emmaus, they invited the stranger to stay with them. At the table, the man gave thanks, broke the bread, and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized that it was Jesus, and then He vanished from their sight.
After the two disciples realized it was Jesus they had been talking to, they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?” They didn’t recognize His face until he broke the bread. Even though they heard that the tomb had been found empty, they still assumed that He was dead. Before they recognized Him, something in them responded to Jesus.
Have you ever felt your heart burn within you? It’s like something deep inside you, beyond your consciousness and reason, is responding to God. One of the most special experiences in life for me is when my heart burns within me so intensely in response to God that I can’t help but cry. They aren’t tears of joy or tears of sadness, they are tears of love. My heart is burning within me, and it is bringing me to tears.
We make spiritual things so cerebral that we forget this whole spiritual life is supposed to be a response to God. A response to His love for us, a response to His spirit in our life, and a response to His great invitation. What kind of spiritual journey are we on if our hearts don’t burn within us? A journey of transformation is not a mental exercise; it is the depth of our heart calling out in response to God. We can’t just flip a switch and make our hearts on fire where they feel stagnant and dead. If our hearts are not on fire, then we haven’t experienced enough of God. When we can cry out to Him to show us more of Himself, He responds.
The more I have pondered the disciples’ words, “Were not our hearts burning within us,” the more I find the false path being differentiated from the true path. The false path is about belief in God, transformation of behavior, and right living. It’s appealing to us because it’s prescriptive and it’s everywhere we look. The false path only asks for a little bit from us. On the other hand, the true path is filled with mystery; we have no control over it, and it asks everything of us. The times I most feel my heart burning within me, I recognize that I am being called out into a new and deeper place. I can feel what it will cost me, but I can’t help but say yes to God’s invitation. We stand no chance of being the same when we say yes to the true path. That one simple phrase about hearts burning within us, reveals how we can each know if we are truly listening to and following the One, the Way.
I wonder what made the disciples drop everything they had and follow Jesus? I wonder what made Peter get out of the boat and try to walk on water? Or what made Paul endure shipwrecks, stoning, and imprisonment? It seems clear that these men had hearts that burned within them. This is not a conjured passion or religious obligation; it is a consuming burning that leads a man to pick up his cross and follow Jesus. I think we have too often, and too easily, accepted far too weak a view of Jesus and His teachings. We have acted as if all we should expect to feel in response to Jesus is a vague sense of love and forgiveness.
When our hearts don’t burn
I think the reason our hearts don’t burn more is that we have missed so much of what Jesus was actually saying, and we are not experiencing what He promises. We have heard His words for so long that they have often lost their meaning to us. If we can actually hear the teachings of Jesus without filtering them through modern Western Christianity, then we would be blown away at the power and wisdom of His great invitation.
Our saturation in modern thinking has hidden from us a few critical truths in the Gospel. We live in a consumer-driven society. Our economy runs on consumption, and a free market means offering people what they want is necessary for business. We don't technically have a free market anymore, but the foundations of our economic and social systems are shaped by free market thinking. That means culturally we tend to focus on trying to give people what they want, not what they need. This may seem obvious and simple, but it has a profound impact on our thinking. Think of all the restaurants and foods that aren't good for people; we have them because people want them. Culturally, we have all come to expect the organizations around us to serve our needs and desires. This means we end up attending churches and giving money to ministries that make us feel good. Fast-forward several generations, and you end up creating a gospel presentation that skips over the parts people don’t want to hear. Namely, overcoming our ego and self-obsession, or as Jesus said it, picking up our cross and following Him.
The combination of a watered-down gospel and a self-obsessed culture often leads us to a powerless and transformation-less practice of religion. This is a completely understandable human struggle. It doesn’t make us bad; it just means we are missing so much of what we were created for and are called to. We all will benefit from asking God to give us understanding and open up the mystery of His words to us. Personally, I don’t want to stop asking that, and I expect that as He answers this prayer, my heart will burn more within me. So far, that is exactly what happens, it’s been beautiful, freeing, and painful at the same time. Beautiful because I am so deeply touched by His love, presence and redemption. Freeing because the more I understand, the more I am freed from self-obsession. Painful, because it beckons me on further towards the end of myself.
If you are not experiencing at times your heart burning within you, then I want to encourage you that there is much more for you than you are currently experiencing. Regardless of where you are on your journey, I would like to invite you to join me in praying this prayer.
Prayer
Father, I want to experience your love and understand your truth in such a powerful way that it causes my heart to burn within me. I do not want to settle for a powerless idea of you, I want a real relationship with you. I choose to pick up my cross and follow you regardless of what that might cost me. Give me the courage to let go of what I hold onto too tightly so that I can embrace the wonderful adventure you have for me. Show me the parts of myself that are afraid to follow you and give me the courage to let go of control and trust your kind intentions towards me.
- John Walt
