A New Heart

"Where is our tenderness? Where our love to Christ, if we seek not His honor in the salvation of men? O that the Lord would saturate us through and through with an undying zeal for the souls of men." -Charles H. Spurgeon

As the Christmas season is in full-swing, I have been constantly reflecting on the very reason we celebrate with our family members and friends with food, laughter, music, and gifts every year.  Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners--that is, you and me. It's an old story, but it's never tiresome. We need not think of it as dull, mundane, or commonplace. It is a story of how God so loved the entire world that he left his heavenly place--where he didn't have to experience hunger, pain, thirst, or heartbreak--and came to earth to be born and experience all of that, simply to die.

It is a grim tale if you were to look at it from a literary perspective, but the most vital part of this story is that it is a story of eternal hope. This season is about hope, for those who have lost it, for those who are still looking for it, and for those who even don't believe in hope. Hope has come. 

What do I do with this story of hope? I know it to be true in my heart, so I walk around with a slightly bit more sense of peace than the average person, but is that good enough? No, I say.

When I encounter people all day--obnoxious people at the grocery store, customers who are a pain in the butt, making ridiculous requests in a whiny, childlike voice, co-workers who are grumpy, family members who like to push buttons and get into arguments--I tend to get very self-absorbed and view their behavior as an attack against me. As a result, I find that many days I have a brick-solid heart, closed off to any sort of compassion or understanding and I carry on with the mission to meet my needs that were so harshly compromised in those little encounters.

This Christmas season, I am asking Christ to give me a new heart. 

In Colossians 3:12 Paul tells us, "Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience." This sounds all warm and fuzzy, like something you'd see cross-stitched in someone's guest bathroom, but it is a tough request.

Then he says, "bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."

Bearing with one another is really translated as "forbearance," which is, by definition, "accepting pains or hardships calmly or without complaint."

This is the very core of the story of Christmas. Jesus Christ came to this earth in an attitude of complete humility, which was the entire removal of himself. I ought to live like this for others. I understand that is a tough moral code to live by, but he helps me, through his mercy, his forgiveness, grace, and guidance through his Holy Spirit. Even though I am a completely self-seeking, hardened person, he softens, he mends, and he gives knowledge and wisdom when I ask for it.

I want to start seeing people the way he sees people. I want to hear people the way he hears people. I realize I not only need a new heart, but also new eyes, new ears, and even a new mouth, for when I encounter people who need hope, that I may be Christ's voice to them.