Teens

From the Head to the Heart

by Stephen Kimball 
02/27/19
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Trying to be something you are not is exhausting work. A couple of years ago, I was asked to be an ”usher” at my church. Ushers, are exhorted to be extraverted, friendly, talkative, genteel and to exhibit an all-around air of happiness that would set visitors at ease and leave them with a positive impression and a desire to come back for more.

Problem is, that’s not me. I honestly did my best to overcome my own personality, to be as welcoming as I possibly could be, but it was uncomfortable to say the least. My true desire was to have an amazingly charismatic approach that would exceed the expectations of those in charge. But God didn’t create me like that. Now, my wife, she would make a really good usher (a natural talker – she could make a friend out of a tree stump – as they say). But this is an area I struggle in. So, I attempted this for months but in reality, I was putting on a show. Alas, I succumbed to the fact that my personality and the job of being a “good usher” is incongruous - I was faking it and I hated that. This type of disingenuous behavior can only be sustained for so long and usually with unsuccessful results. Every time the show is on, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before you are exposed as the fraud you are.

Trying to line yourself up with God’s Word before your knowledge has moved from your head to your heart is an equally exhausting way to live and the evidence of that lies in fruitlessness and is, in the long run, unsustainable. Like millions of kids before you, once you leave the protective cover of your home, your church and the friends you grew up with, you will run out of gas and hop off that gerbil wheel you’ve been running on ever since you can remember.

It is easy to be self-deceived when it comes to faith issues. You may have grown up in the church, you may have been baptized, you may be so familiar with the Bible that you know all of the right answers, but knowledge is only proof that you have been exposed to the Bible and to Christian doctrine. I am a big football fan, I am familiar with all the rules, the players and the stats. I can tell you who has been in every Super Bowl since the beginning. I am so obsessive about football, I could numb even a football fans mind in a matter of minutes with my knowledge and enthusiasm of the subject, but that doesn’t make me a football player any more than knowledge of the Bible makes you a Christian.

So how does the knowledge, then, move from your head down to your heart? It really comes down to repentance. The Holy Spirit must reveal to you, in a personal way, that YOUR sin is an afront to a holy, righteous and just God and that without Christ’s atonement, there is no possible way to reach Him. And that’s when the move happens. Once you are TRULY convicted of your sin and accept Jesus’ sacrifice for forgiveness you begin to be able to GENUINELY align your life with the Word. Moving Jesus from your head to your heart is a “no going back” reality that leads to real change.

Pray, today, that God would move your “Christian” experience and knowledge from your head to your heart. You will never be the same.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”