Time after Time

I was a gymnast in my younger days and all gymnasts know what calloused hands look like.  I remember the chalk "bucket", it was a white round thing that sat on the floor next to the bars... we'd chalk up to help keep our hands from slipping but that didn't prevent the callouses that came from swinging around the bars over and over again.

That picture is a reminder to me of what can happen to our hearts.   The Bible refers to it as hardened.  But it is caused by the "time after time" thing...  only it isn't about hands wrapped and swinging time and time again around a bar - it's about an offense or perceived injustice that occurs over and over and in doing so thought patterns form and those in turn create the hardening of the heart which will lead to a drastic tear at some point.  Just as a calloused hand rips eventually, so too a hardened heart and the aftermath will be painful and bloody.  It will take time to heal and if not changed will be a repeated pattern.

In Matthew 18, Peters ask the Lord how many times does he have to forgive someone who hurts him... he thinks 7 sounds doable.  And Jesus answered back, "I tell you not 7 times, but 77."  

And this is where the treasure lies.  Why do we get so caught up in how many times we've been hurt?   What is it in us that likes to keep tally thinking it in some way benefits us... that it will come in handy at some final throw down.  Why can't we see that keeping track creates that callous and that callous is gonna fail us at some point... ripping and tearing our hardened stance to shreds.

Amidst the "injustice"... by the Grace of God, the fleeting thought will come to just let it go... to choose not to harden our heart... to give way to the miracle of Mercy... and so too a stronger pull will quickly follow waving the tally card of offenses.  This is pride and it will make you feel down right ignorant for even thinking about letting it go.  "How many times have you done that already and what good is it?"   Oh to dodge this bullet today and forever more... b/c the time after time after time after time thing doesn't scare God and it shouldn't scare us.  His burden is easy and it's a choice to pull back that fleeting thought of Mercy and take your comfy cushioned stance on it.  I will not harden my heart... I will let it go because the amount of times it has happened in the past doesn't effect the hope for change Today or in the future.

Thankful my Savior does it this way for me, and God help me live this freely in return, and when I fail and it hardens and crumbles I already sense your Mercy... who is like you?

The state of our hearts is at stake.  Expend great effort in guarding yours from the "time after time" lie and keep it cushy so that God can move in the midst of your pain and bring justice as he sees fit.

"There's freedom from my past and there's hope for my future.  Jesus, you are my Today and you are my forever."  Sarah Reeves