The Heart of Chicago

I sat on a park bench in downtown Chicago and looked around – So many people – so many colors – so many nationalities – so many needs – so many without Jesus. I saw the dogs being walked, umbrellas opened protecting their owners from the sun, newspapers opened gleaning the past’s events, cell phones and baby carriages.

The noise was extreme: jack hammers; lawn mowers; back-up warnings; trucks roaring; tires squealing; the squeak of brakes and the rumble of jets. How can they hear God in the midst of this chaos? How can I touch the lives of these alienated children of God?

I walk down the street and pass a homeless man in the doorway of a building. I take fifty steps and pass the influential and wealthy eating outside of a posh restaurant. And I wonder: …”God, this is such a dichotomy” – rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief – all needing Jesus.

I walk further; I pass another homeless man sitting at the edge of busy Michigan Avenue (The Magnificent Mile). People are stepping over him and around him – a nobody – except…My Jesus gave his life for him, so he is very much a somebody.

In the midst of all of this I stand again face to face with my own heart and with God’s heart. Where is my heart, really? What is shaping my heart? Does it look like my Jesus’ heart? Does it bear the imprint of His fingers?

“Wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be also”

The Confusing Curve

What do you do when God throws you a curve that you cannot even come close to hitting?

There is this windex commercial where the sliding glass door is so clean that the man of the house thinks it is open and walk right into is. Have you ever felt that way? You have prayed, fasted and sought God’s direction, took a few steps where you think you are to go and WHAM! – you run into the glass door.

You heart, mind, emotions and spirit are confused and your soul is bruised. It seems that God has caused it all. The questions abound: “What is going on?” or “Why is that happening?” You discover that there are no answers and silence seems to greet your prayers.

We must realize that this is where faith and trust in God must enter into the picture. Will you continue to believe? Will you still trust in God? Do you believe that God has your best interests at heart? Doubt has a part in building a great faith. Only a bruised and broken faith can be rebuilt into a deeper, richer and stronger faith.

God is being seen in a new and different way. A new view of God’s greatness and love can only be shaped when the old view gets broken and the pieces rearranged.

It is so easy to get all wrapped up in oneself and one’s needs. We must get all wrapped up in Jesus. God is working to shape a truer image of Himself and a truer image of us in our hearts and spirits.

We learn that the curve was not supposed to be hit. It is to be admired and enjoyed.

IMAGES and REFLECTIONS

Some ladies in a women’s Bible study were wondering about the process of refining silver. One of the ladies decided to visit a silversmith. She went to watch him work.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it"

When people look into our lives do they see the image of Jesus in us? If not, perhaps God may place us in the fire to refine us until the image of Jesus shines out from our life.

When God refines us he puts all of our lives over his all consuming fire to bring out of us the clutter that has infiltrated us. In love he looks down into our hearts and spirits and seeks to see the reflection of His Son there.

We must stop and ask ourselves if we are living lives that please God and allows others to see Jesus in us. When we go to bed at night we need to pray and ask God: “Did I live today in the way that pleases you?” Living life this way affects the lives of others who live, work and play around us.

Pastor Scott Camp was working on an assignment for a doctoral thesis. As a college student he spent a year with a group of Navajo Indians on a reservation in the Southwest. As he did his research he lived with one family, sleeping in their hut, eating their food, working with them and generally living the life of a 20th Century Indian.

The old grandmother of the family spoke no English at all, yet a very close friendship formed between the two. They spent a great deal of time sharing a friendship that was meaningful to each, yet unexplainable to someone else. In spite of the language difference they shared the common language of love and understood each other. Over the months he learned a few phrases of Navajo and she picked up a little of the English language.

When it was time for him to return to the campus and write his thesis, the tribe held a going-away celebration. It was marked by sadness since the young man had become close to the whole village and all would miss him. As he prepared to get up into the pickup truck and leave, the old grandmother came to tell him good-bye. With tears streaming from her eyes, she placed her hands on either side of his face, looked directly into his eyes and said, "I like me best when I'm with you."

Perhaps that is a great expression of the image of Jesus. Other people learn to like themselves when they are around us.