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Scripture:
25 Therefore, after you have gotten rid of lying, Each of you must tell the truth to your neighbor because we are parts of each other in the same body. 26 Be angry without sinning. Don’t let the sun set on your anger. 27 Don’t provide an opportunity for the devil. 28 Thieves should no longer steal. Instead, they should go to work, using their hands to do good so that they will have something to share with whoever is in need.
29 Don’t let any foul words come out of your mouth. Only say what is helpful when it is needed for building up the community so that it benefits those who hear what you say. 30 Don’t make the Holy Spirit of God unhappy—you were sealed by him for the day of redemption. 31 Put aside all bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, and slander, along with every other evil. 32 Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ.
Consider:
“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”
-Winnie the Pooh
Why does it feel like change is so hard?
And why does it feel so impossibly SLOW?
I am an over-thinker. I love thinking. I think I could spend most of my life sitting back daydreaming, internal monologuing, and winning imaginary debates in my head. But despite my long record of thinking, it has rarely led me to actually change let alone transformed my heart.
I am not sure you can change things just by thinking your way out of it. At least for me, I tend to go in circles! It is like someone who wants to run a marathon, and they sit there thinking, “man how can I become someone who can run twenty-six miles?!” Contemplating might help you at first. Maybe you can come up with the best way to ease yourself into it, but at some point you’ve just got to get up and run! You have to commit with your entire body and your mind.
Still, in moments when I knew I needed a change, I wasn’t too impressed with other people’s methods of transformation. Often I would see plenty of people who would talk about how much they were transforming and being sanctified, only to see them a year or so later hardly living up to the height of piety.
Are we doomed then to a never ending hardness of heart? Well the Bible teaches something different. One good example comes from Deuteronomy 6:5. In Deuteronomy, we hear the most important words of the Torah: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Essentially three ways of saying you must love God with your innermost being… with everything you have. The last word in that verse which is translated as “strength” is actually and strangely an adverb in the Hebrew, and if it was translated in an literal, but awkward way, the sentence would read “love your God with all of your ‘very’ or with all your your ‘muchness.’” How are you supposed to transform something like that? Transform all of your muchness? I can barely break a bad habit. It seems impossible to change, and at times in my life, I believed it was.
Now, I’m not so fatalistic. One of the things that started this mind shift was when a former pastor introduced me to Liturgy. Liturgy is the regular rhythms in a service like the Confession or the Assurance of Faith or the Prayers of the People. These elements of the service are arranged at the same time in every service and build a liturgy. Sadly, many christians have historically and presently frowned on Liturgy, but I think it is one of the few ways we can transform our hearts. It is a communal habit. A way to form yourself to the ways of God, not by thinking differently, or faking it till you make it, but by exposing your entire self differently. It is as if you had a jagged rock that you wanted to smooth out so you placed it into a river. Over time the river begins to form and smooth out the rocks’ harder edges. Liturgy is like this river.
It is not really noticeable after the first, second, or even thirtieth service, but at some point, when the pastor finishes reading the scripture and says, “this is the word of the Lord,” we all respond, “Thanks be to God” without even thinking. It is a strange thing, but it is one of the ways God forms a people.
In a sense then, we form our hard hearts by placing them in the river of faith. This might mean opening up in a small group, or joining the choir to sing worship songs, or finding a charity that you can volunteer regularly with- Anywhere you can be fully embodied and participate in communal rhythms. Begin to build a liturgy for your life. These are the small things that may seem meaningless to us in the moment, but are the ‘muchness’ necessary to transform a heart.
Respond:
Don’t ask “how can I change myself?”, but instead ask, “how can I invest in the people/places that can change me?”. Write down where or who comes to mind and how they are forming you.
Pray:
Lord of Rhythms,
We come to you asking to be transformed. Bathe us in your river of faith. Form us with your hands. Give us patience for this long process. Most of all God, guide us to the places where our hearts can be transformed by your love. Amen.
