Would you be offended if I told you the way to rekindle your
spiritual flame is to become like a child and a prostitute? You should be!
Unless of course you've read your Bible, lately...
Lately, I've been feeling like my initial reckless devotion to Him has gotten lost in the mix of life. So many things demand my attention nowadays that when I go to spend time with Him, I'm not as fired up about Him as I once was. I think back to the last couple years when I was walking around like a lovesick teenager, and I miss it. How do I get it back?
While my heart was parched and crying out "water! water!" in a raspy dehydrated voice, Rick Pino came for a night of worship at The Harbour. Not only did the music minister to me, but the things he mentioned between songs got me thinking...
If we want to return to our first love, we need to become like a child and a prostitute.
Shocking!! Scandalous!! Heretical!! Well, Jesus was, in fact, those things to the people of His day when He spoke very highly and lovingly of those two specific kinds of people: children and prostitutes.
Let's think about this for a second:
The first story I want to mention is one of my absolute favorites, of when the woman identified in Luke chapter 7 as a prostitute busted in on Jesus having dinner with some high-society religious snobs known as the Pharisees, and proceeded to dump a ridiculously expensive perfume upon Jesus, washing His feet with her tears and drying them with her hair. What He said about her is that wherever the Gospel is preached, her story will be told in honor of what she did for Him.
The second story I want to talk about is in Matthew chapter 18 where Jesus' disciples asked Him who would is the greatest in the Kingdom of God hoping to get their ego stroked, but were thrown off when Jesus put a kid on His lap and said that only the child-like are greatest in the kingdom.
What both stories have in common is that Jesus was showing what makes someone great, recognized, famous even, in His kingdom.
What does it mean to be great, recognized, and famous? The answer to that (besides the obvious) is almost always a person's relationship and status amongst the most important and influential people. In a kingdom, one would be considered great and famous by their proximity and relationship to the king.
Are you beginning to see where I'm going with this?
The reason children are the greatest in God's kingdom and the prostitute's story was made famous is because of the proximity of their hearts to Our King. If we have been feeling like we are lacking in the intimacy department in our time with God, let us go back to the basics and take a leaf out the child's and the prostitute's book and learn how to be close to His heart, again.
The Child
Gosh, there are SO many things I could say about child-likeness that God has shown me over the years, but I'll just highlight a few that I think are essential to rekindling the flame of intimacy with Him.
Simplicity. I think this is a huge one for the average American adult. We make everything so complicated and cluttered! Our lives are so full of stuff that we can barely take a breath before we have something else to do, to buy, to worry about, to say, to be distracted with. Think about what consists of a child's day: playing, laughing, enjoying snacks and nap time (I like this one!), maybe being creative and drawing doodles with crayons and dancing around in costumes. Children just don't even have the capacity to make things complicated or fill their life with clutter. You'll never sit down with a 4-year-old and hear them complain about how they need new silverware because the set they have is old, or worry that they didn't get the best deal on a big screen TV for a Christmas gift. They'll never rant about the economy affecting their paycheck or how the A/C guy screwed them over and charged them too much to fix it.
I'm not saying that we have the luxury of having zero responsibilities and we should all spend our time in tu-tus and watching Disney movies between naps (wouldn't that be nice?), but we can certainly take a close look at how full and happy their lives are without filling it with stuff that is trivial at the end of the day.
I know that for me, sometimes I just need to simplify my life so I don't give all of my time and attention to things that are so much less important than Jesus. I remember one time when I was constantly thinking about how I really needed a new pair of jeans. It sounds so dumb, but women understand how hard it is to find that perfect pair and how frustrating it is when you can't seem to! It was almost a week of searching with no luck: it was consuming my every thought! I would go into my room with the intentions of spending time with Jesus, only to look at my closet and get distracted with thoughts of a new pair of jeans and before I knew it, an hour had passed of me thinking about NOTHING important. Finally, God told me to simplify; I went through my wardrobe and got rid of all the clothing I didn't need, then that turned into getting rid of other things in my room that I didn't need or want anymore that were just taking up space. It felt GREAT to unclutter my room and my closet (almost synonymous with "life" for many women) and I realized that suddenly I was able to think more clearly. I had much more peace and my mind was able to stay focused on God. I wasn't consumed with finding those dang jeans, anymore either! I eventually found a good pair, but it didn't require my thoughts to constantly be trying to plot how to get them.
Children's hearts are able to stay pure and their lives joyful because they keep things simple. When we keep things simple in our lives, it allows us to live free of distractions and worries that keep our eyes off Jesus.
Awe and Wonderment. Just like with the concept of simplicity, we can get so distracted and bogged down with life that we forget to look around us and enjoy the world we live in. Think of the way a kid will "oooh" and "ahhh" and giggle at someone blowing bubbles and think it's the most delightful thing they've ever seen, while an adult might look on and have no reaction to it at all. I mean, have you ever really stopped to think about how cool a bubble actually is? It's a circular encasing of soap and water that's holding air from your lungs, and it floats and makes rainbows in the light! How is that not cool?!
I mean, insert anything "little kids think are amazing and are really very simple" and you've got an example of the kind of innocent fascination that God wants us to have with Him. If we take the time to look around us, at the glory of a sunset, the power of the ocean, even the blades of grass or the way a bee lands on a flower, suddenly we find ourselves back in the state of mind we were made to be in: beholding the beauty of God. There's no way you can spend time observing God's creation and not fall in love with Him, again! If you ever find yourself not being able to engage with Him, just take the time to admire His handiwork, be it through nature or another person, or even just thinking about what He has done in your life and I'm sure that child-like awe and wonder will rekindle your heart!
Be yourself. This is something that children and the prostitute from Luke 7 have in common. Children couldn't care less what people think of them! Do you ever see a child changing their personality out of fear of how other people may look at them? Of course, not. Kids have virtually no fear of man. I love seeing little kids just start mozying around the front of the church during service because like Rick Pino talked about when he came to The Harbour, kids don't know the religious rules, they aren't aware of what is acceptable or offensive, they're not even aware that they supposedly have dignity to uphold! They are simply themselves and they don't make apologies for it.
Fear of man is a MAJOR problem when it comes to intimacy with Jesus. If you can't let go of caring about what other people think of you, you'll never experience the depths of His love that He wants to take you to. When you're in love, you do crazy things, you say crazy things, heck you even LOOK crazy, sometimes! When you're truly enamored, you don't care who knows it or who has an opinion about it! Dignity is overrated when it comes to loving God. He doesn't care if you look well put together or if you're self-control is helping to keep people at ease in their religious boxes, He just wants your heart! Just like an earthly father delights in their kid being themselves, so does God delight in seeing us uninhibited by people's opinions and just embracing the identity He put within us.
There's probably a hundred more things that we can learn from kids that I didn't mention, but think about it for yourself. Maybe there's other child-like qualities that God wants you to apply to your life!
The Prostitute
Out of all of the women mentioned in the Bible, this one is who I am most inspired to be like. Once again, there is so much to be learned from this story, but I'll just mention a few things.
Lose your dignity. This woman did not let the opinions of others keep her from expressing her devotion to Jesus. What she did was COMPLETELY inappropriate and scandalous for the times. Being a prostitute was one of the most shamed things a woman could be. She was "tainted" and therefore unable to ever marry and become "legitimate," and so was destined to be an outcast, forever. She was looked at as dirty scum, not worthy to be in the same vicinity with the holy Pharisees. Yet she had the gall to not only crash someone's dinner party, but the dinner party of the most holy and revered people in the land! She completely disregarded the stares, gasps, and murmurings that were certainly erupting from people all around, and stayed completely focused and enraptured with Jesus. Did you also know that for a woman to have her hair down in public was hugely undignified and unlady-like? It was a dishonor to the woman and other women in general. In our day, it would have been like her walking into a business meeting wearing lingerie. If it wasn't enough that she didn't have her hair pulled back, she actually used it to wipe Jesus' feet!
This woman was doing everything all wrong, according to societal norms and religious rules. But she did not care. She was so desperate for God, so in love with Him, that she did not allow what people deemed correct to hold her back. She was not a victim of the culture and neither should we be!
How often do we think about what the person near us in line is going to think if we say "God bless you" to the cashier as we check out? How often do we want to sing out loud to Jesus in church, but then stop because we might feel embarrassed by what the person next to us will think? Heck, let's take spirituality out of it and just think about how often we hold back from doing or saying anything in particular just because we don't want to give anyone the chance to think badly of us?
It's the "I don't care what others think" kind of attitude that got Jesus to say, "Look at the way she loves me, now THIS is what I'm talking about!" (not in those words, of course, haha). I don't know about you, but that's how I want to make Jesus feel, and that's how I want to feel when I'm with him. Not giving a rip what people think of you, especially when you're worshipping God, is totally key to returning to that beautiful place of first love with Him, because that kind of reckless abandon is the stuff of first love!
Be extravagant and reckless. This woman literally gave EVERYTHING she had when she broke that alabaster jar and poured the spikenard on Jesus. That was not a cheap bottle of perfume and given her social status, was most likely her entire fortune. But she didn't even think twice because she knew Jesus was worthy of her most prized possession and all of her affections.
If you're having a hard time finding the passion again, begin to do acts of passion, again! Live like you've got nothing to lose because what you have in God can't be lost! Give extravagantly to those who are in need without fear of finding yourself with nothing. Love the hardest people to love with all you've got because that is the heart of the Father.
And most importantly, worship with your entire being. Don't hold anything back, whether it's from fear of man like previously mentioned, or apprehension to expose your whole heart out of fear of being so vulnerable. Jesus responds to sold out lovers like no one's business! In fact, this is the only time Jesus ever mentioned someone being remembered for their act of love for Him! Clearly that kind of devotion means a great deal to Him.
The biggest gripe Jesus had with the church in Ephesus was that they did all the right things and said all the right things, but they had forsaken the passionate love they had in the beginning. His response on how to return to the way they felt about Him is in Revelation 2:2 where He said, "Return to me and change the way you think and act, and do what you did at first."
Perhaps the best way to get that flame going again is to revisit those early times with Jesus and do what you once did with Him. Did you have early morning coffee dates on your porch and talk with Him while you watched the sun come up? Did you go sit on the beach at night and converse with Him under the stars? Did you lay on your floor with music on and just enjoy His presence?
What made your heart pound, before? What was it that made you walk around with uncontrollable smiles and tangible sense of His love that stuck with you all day? Those are surely the things that will bring you back to a place passion and zeal, and will find you lovesick once again.
I will close with this: the Word says that we love Him because He first loved us. Sometimes the only way to truly get your heart back to where it used to be is to simply allow His love to wash over you and receive His affections. While you may have lost sight of your passion for a short while, God has never lost His for you. All it takes is one moment with Him and you have His full attention. Give Him your time and see the same happen for you.
I know that for me, sometimes I just need to simplify my life so I don't give all of my time and attention to things that are so much less important than Jesus. I remember one time when I was constantly thinking about how I really needed a new pair of jeans. It sounds so dumb, but women understand how hard it is to find that perfect pair and how frustrating it is when you can't seem to! It was almost a week of searching with no luck: it was consuming my every thought! I would go into my room with the intentions of spending time with Jesus, only to look at my closet and get distracted with thoughts of a new pair of jeans and before I knew it, an hour had passed of me thinking about NOTHING important. Finally, God told me to simplify; I went through my wardrobe and got rid of all the clothing I didn't need, then that turned into getting rid of other things in my room that I didn't need or want anymore that were just taking up space. It felt GREAT to unclutter my room and my closet (almost synonymous with "life" for many women) and I realized that suddenly I was able to think more clearly. I had much more peace and my mind was able to stay focused on God. I wasn't consumed with finding those dang jeans, anymore either! I eventually found a good pair, but it didn't require my thoughts to constantly be trying to plot how to get them.
Children's hearts are able to stay pure and their lives joyful because they keep things simple. When we keep things simple in our lives, it allows us to live free of distractions and worries that keep our eyes off Jesus.
I mean, insert anything "little kids think are amazing and are really very simple" and you've got an example of the kind of innocent fascination that God wants us to have with Him. If we take the time to look around us, at the glory of a sunset, the power of the ocean, even the blades of grass or the way a bee lands on a flower, suddenly we find ourselves back in the state of mind we were made to be in: beholding the beauty of God. There's no way you can spend time observing God's creation and not fall in love with Him, again! If you ever find yourself not being able to engage with Him, just take the time to admire His handiwork, be it through nature or another person, or even just thinking about what He has done in your life and I'm sure that child-like awe and wonder will rekindle your heart!
Be yourself. This is something that children and the prostitute from Luke 7 have in common. Children couldn't care less what people think of them! Do you ever see a child changing their personality out of fear of how other people may look at them? Of course, not. Kids have virtually no fear of man. I love seeing little kids just start mozying around the front of the church during service because like Rick Pino talked about when he came to The Harbour, kids don't know the religious rules, they aren't aware of what is acceptable or offensive, they're not even aware that they supposedly have dignity to uphold! They are simply themselves and they don't make apologies for it.
Fear of man is a MAJOR problem when it comes to intimacy with Jesus. If you can't let go of caring about what other people think of you, you'll never experience the depths of His love that He wants to take you to. When you're in love, you do crazy things, you say crazy things, heck you even LOOK crazy, sometimes! When you're truly enamored, you don't care who knows it or who has an opinion about it! Dignity is overrated when it comes to loving God. He doesn't care if you look well put together or if you're self-control is helping to keep people at ease in their religious boxes, He just wants your heart! Just like an earthly father delights in their kid being themselves, so does God delight in seeing us uninhibited by people's opinions and just embracing the identity He put within us.
There's probably a hundred more things that we can learn from kids that I didn't mention, but think about it for yourself. Maybe there's other child-like qualities that God wants you to apply to your life!
The Prostitute
Out of all of the women mentioned in the Bible, this one is who I am most inspired to be like. Once again, there is so much to be learned from this story, but I'll just mention a few things.
Lose your dignity. This woman did not let the opinions of others keep her from expressing her devotion to Jesus. What she did was COMPLETELY inappropriate and scandalous for the times. Being a prostitute was one of the most shamed things a woman could be. She was "tainted" and therefore unable to ever marry and become "legitimate," and so was destined to be an outcast, forever. She was looked at as dirty scum, not worthy to be in the same vicinity with the holy Pharisees. Yet she had the gall to not only crash someone's dinner party, but the dinner party of the most holy and revered people in the land! She completely disregarded the stares, gasps, and murmurings that were certainly erupting from people all around, and stayed completely focused and enraptured with Jesus. Did you also know that for a woman to have her hair down in public was hugely undignified and unlady-like? It was a dishonor to the woman and other women in general. In our day, it would have been like her walking into a business meeting wearing lingerie. If it wasn't enough that she didn't have her hair pulled back, she actually used it to wipe Jesus' feet!
This woman was doing everything all wrong, according to societal norms and religious rules. But she did not care. She was so desperate for God, so in love with Him, that she did not allow what people deemed correct to hold her back. She was not a victim of the culture and neither should we be!
How often do we think about what the person near us in line is going to think if we say "God bless you" to the cashier as we check out? How often do we want to sing out loud to Jesus in church, but then stop because we might feel embarrassed by what the person next to us will think? Heck, let's take spirituality out of it and just think about how often we hold back from doing or saying anything in particular just because we don't want to give anyone the chance to think badly of us?
It's the "I don't care what others think" kind of attitude that got Jesus to say, "Look at the way she loves me, now THIS is what I'm talking about!" (not in those words, of course, haha). I don't know about you, but that's how I want to make Jesus feel, and that's how I want to feel when I'm with him. Not giving a rip what people think of you, especially when you're worshipping God, is totally key to returning to that beautiful place of first love with Him, because that kind of reckless abandon is the stuff of first love!
Be extravagant and reckless. This woman literally gave EVERYTHING she had when she broke that alabaster jar and poured the spikenard on Jesus. That was not a cheap bottle of perfume and given her social status, was most likely her entire fortune. But she didn't even think twice because she knew Jesus was worthy of her most prized possession and all of her affections.
If you're having a hard time finding the passion again, begin to do acts of passion, again! Live like you've got nothing to lose because what you have in God can't be lost! Give extravagantly to those who are in need without fear of finding yourself with nothing. Love the hardest people to love with all you've got because that is the heart of the Father.
And most importantly, worship with your entire being. Don't hold anything back, whether it's from fear of man like previously mentioned, or apprehension to expose your whole heart out of fear of being so vulnerable. Jesus responds to sold out lovers like no one's business! In fact, this is the only time Jesus ever mentioned someone being remembered for their act of love for Him! Clearly that kind of devotion means a great deal to Him.
The biggest gripe Jesus had with the church in Ephesus was that they did all the right things and said all the right things, but they had forsaken the passionate love they had in the beginning. His response on how to return to the way they felt about Him is in Revelation 2:2 where He said, "Return to me and change the way you think and act, and do what you did at first."
Perhaps the best way to get that flame going again is to revisit those early times with Jesus and do what you once did with Him. Did you have early morning coffee dates on your porch and talk with Him while you watched the sun come up? Did you go sit on the beach at night and converse with Him under the stars? Did you lay on your floor with music on and just enjoy His presence?
What made your heart pound, before? What was it that made you walk around with uncontrollable smiles and tangible sense of His love that stuck with you all day? Those are surely the things that will bring you back to a place passion and zeal, and will find you lovesick once again.
I will close with this: the Word says that we love Him because He first loved us. Sometimes the only way to truly get your heart back to where it used to be is to simply allow His love to wash over you and receive His affections. While you may have lost sight of your passion for a short while, God has never lost His for you. All it takes is one moment with Him and you have His full attention. Give Him your time and see the same happen for you.
"You have stolen my heart.
You make my heart beat faster
with one glance of your eye..."
-Song of Solomon 4:9
