Lip Service or Heart Surgery?

Last updated on: November 28, 2007 at 3:49 pm by David Hayward

Lip Service or Heart Surgery? 2007-11-28T15:49:10-04:00 David Hayward

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So yesterday I made some suggestions that the community shouldn’t assume when it has pleased the Lord. Like I said, I think this can be a fatal mistake. This has always been the problem of humanity and the problem with the church. We do something, it seems to work, so we bottle it to use again in the future. We even sell it if we can. Not long ago Willow Creek made the public confession that their high-profile and lucrative approach wasn’t working. Read about it here. Back to the drawing board! But I say, “What about the thousands of churches who modeled themselves after you? What are they supposed to do?” I suggest that going back to the drawing board only recreates the same problem. We can’t know how we are going to please the Lord tomorrow, and we can’t assume that we are now. Humility, I think, is being who you are now… nothing more (that’s pride and arrogance) and nothing less (that’s false humility, another kind of pride). God isn’t impressed with our deeds. Especially when we are and we think he is. We could worship our faces off, but our hearts could be far from him. We could give to the poor, and neglect Jesus as Mary refused to do in spite of vocal opposition from the men in the room. We could serve until our hands bleed but not be at the feet of Jesus, as Martha was. We could cast out demons, prophesy and heal and be complete strangers to him. We could do coffee houses for Darfur, feed a few people and please ourselves with a job well done but be far away from the one thing that he requires. Do you know what I mean? Of course, we could do none of these things and think we have a contemplative intercessory ministry and be completely in the dark too. I refuse to be impressed with our shows, even when they seem to promise to produce fruit. Judgement on the last day will expose what was true and what was not. The truth is, as eloquent as my lips might be, in the end my heart is what needs surgery. Anyway, enough for now. No pic. Sorry.

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