Stolen Hearts

9.30.2010

Luke 13:14 14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” ESV

The question I have is, what is work? Is it work to give a sick child some Tylenol to ease his fever? Is it work to stop alongside the road and help someone change a flat tire? What is work?

It seems the Israelites were damned because they neglected the Sabbath and then they were damned because they abused it. What is wrong with these people!? Their problem wasn’t their lack of religion – their problem was their lack of heart; their religion had stolen their hearts. It’s truly maddening to really need something from the store and make your way down there only to find it’s closed.  Ministering to people may take our time and our resources but it should never take away our compassion – when it does we have relegated love down to work and ought to go do something else until our love comes back.

I get angry at the ruler of the synagogue because he’s caught up in a system that took away his heart. The day he really struggled in sickness and misery and really needed simple ministry of a loving embrace to ease his pain was probably a Sabbath day and he was out of luck. Maybe his heart’s attitude toward work changed that day…

I must guard my heart and my thoughts and my attitudes. That is easier said than done because often I find I am caught up in a system that operates at the expense of other’s needs. But just because that is doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try to remember that in all I do, it ought to be in love as to the Lord – if my heart isn’t in it, I’m only fooling myself.

Father in Heaven,
Thank You that Your heart didn’t go on vacation when You decided to redeem Your people; You are always loving and compassionate. I pray for love and compassion and a right heart today to treat others the way I wish to be treated; and in all I do, to do it all in love, with all of my heart, as unto to You. Amen.