This Body
8 min read
8 Hear me, my people, and I will warn you—if you would only listen to me, Israel!
9 You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me.
10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.11 But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.
— Psalm 81:8-12
God never forces us to listen to His voice and to submit to Him. We have a choice to follow His counsel or to follow our own.
The stubbornness of our hearts is revealed when we persistently choose to go our own way instead of the way of Christ. That’s what God means when He says, “I gave them over to their stubborn hearts.”
And typically, the reason that we choose our own counsel is because we value something else more than our relationship with Jesus Christ. Often, our corrupted value system is evident when being obedient to the word of Christ makes no logical sense whatsoever.
We don’t want to believe that is the case. Many people may even be offended if I were to point that out to them. Of course, I am not pointing a finger at any particular person without first pointing that finger at myself. But it is not I who point that finger; it is the word of God.
if we were to stop long enough to reflect deeply about our lives—examining all that we do, the amount of time and effort that goes into those things, honestly asking ourselves why we do those things—how many of us could truly say that the #1 priority of our lives is our relationship with Jesus Christ? All the time, anyway.
A while back at my church up north, I was in charge of putting together a revival for the church. It took a lot of work, and the revival turned out pretty good. But after it was all done, I said, “I feel so empty” (but not a good “empty”). I think it was one of the most honest moments of my life.
It is good when we are diligent in attending Sunday services and other services and in serving. If we love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, we should do those basic things.
But for myself—and I believe for many—the true litmus test of whether we value Christ above all and hear His voice is found in two commands: do not covet, and especially, love your neighbor as yourself (Romans 13:9-10).
We can have perfect attendance on Sundays, we can attend every prayer service, we can serve faithfully, we can go on hundreds of mission trips and evangelism outings (and all those are good things we should do), but whenever we compare ourselves to others, whenever we are not willing to let go of our own agenda, rights, and benefits for the sake of others (especially VIPs, the next generation, and the unchurched), the voice of the Lord can feel like piercing shrieks in our ears.
When we hear God’s voice on those two commands and find His voice directed at ME, we might suddenly start to feel burnt out and spiritually empty, and maybe angry.
But God does not give us those commands to make us feel guilty and ashamed and burnt out and angry. His commands are given so that we might have the fullness of life (John 10:10). His commands are given so that we might have eternal life here and now (John 3:16).
Whenever we find ourselves in that place of spiritual weariness or emptiness or loathing (and we all find ourselves there once in a while), we might want to ask ourselves honestly, “Am I just playing church, or am I really in Christ?”
When we are truly in Christ, we can feel (quite viscerally) how every member of the body is indispensable, including ourselves. And the joy that we have of truly being in Christ puts everything else in this world into its proper perspective and value.
Father, You are our God, and we are Your body in Christ—if indeed we are in Christ. But sometimes, the sinfulness of humanity (of others and of myself) makes it burdensome to persevere and to find the joy of being in Christ. Forgive me. But set my heart right, Lord. Cleanse my eyes and my ears and my heart, so that I can see, heart, and experience the joy of Your salvation. And may everything else be put in its proper perspective. In Jesus’s name.
