Heart Issues...

So...for some reason, today my desire for God seemed to have been turned up 1000x. This is such a blessing because lately I've been so apathetic towards God and the things of God. I mean...I've been active in ministry but not doing ministry. Busy doing church stuff but my heart's been only halfway into it...which means that my heart hasn't been into at all. I've been reading Dancing Cripples, the blog of Pastor Dan Nold of Calvary Baptist in State College, lately. His posts have been a blessing. One post struck me in particular today. In that post, he challenges Christians to evaluate where our hearts are. He exhorts us to live lives of true religion. At the end of the post, he references James 1:26-27 which pierced my heart. It says:

"26-27Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world." (The Message Version)

I thought about Facebook. One of the profile questions is "Religious Views". I always find it interesting to see what people put there. Some people put their denominations. Some put a catchy phrase like "Jesus Freak" or "There is only 1 God". I, myself, simply had "the GOSPEL" as mine. And really, the Gospel is my religious view. That is the center of my religious beliefs. But after reading this passage, this adds depth to a culture of Christians who are working hard to separate themselves from the now-negative label of "religious". People are now into the "Relationship not religion" phase. While I think that's cute and while I do believe that Christians need to redefine and reestablish the word religion in the way the Lord designed for it to be, i think the word religion has depth that the word relationship doesn't. A person can enter into and out of a relationship with ease. Religion, by definition, requires a deep conviction and devotion. So when the Lord says to us that religion (a deep conviction to us of Himself) is to reach the homeless and loveless and to protect ourselves from the godlessness of the world, that should be what is emitted to the world about the "religious". Sadly, it's not. So in my small first effort to help reclaim the word religion/religious (reclamation is big these days; look at the homosexual community and African American community), I edited my religious views to include James 1:26-27.

I'm dying to hear from God right now. I was listening to an online sermon by Pastor Nold and he quoted a man named Henry Blackaby: "If I have trouble hearing God speak, I am in trouble at the very heart of my Christian experience." Time for a spiritual catherization and angioplasty.

For the PEOPLE,
Ash B.