February brings with it the convergence of two notable days—Valentine’s Day and the Heart Breakfast. Both have, at their core, a common theme— “Love”. And while the love of Valentine’s Day is almost exclusively horizontal, the love celebrated at the Heart Breakfast is supremely vertical.
Brennan Manning, the oft-quoted Franciscan priest and hero of many Gospel-grasping Christians, was fond of saying that after 40 years of ministry and nearly 70 years of life, he was absolutely convinced that when we stand before God on that final day, He will ask us only one question, “Did you believe that I loved you? (That I desired you? That I waited for you day after day? That I loved to hear the sound of your voice?)”
It’s only that knowledge, driven deep down into the heart, that will transform a life from irreligion or religion to something radically and sustainably new. Indeed, it is just that point that Paul is emphasizing throughout his letter to the Galatians.
In 1573 John Donne was born in London, England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of meta-physical poets (those who used extended metaphors to communicate truth). Listen to the way he frames the power of Jesus’ love to transform his life:
“Take me to You. Imprison me. For I, accept You enthrall me, never shall be free or ever chaste, except You ravish me.”
In other words, what Donne is saying is, “Unless You, Lord Jesus, ravish me, I will always be putting myself in the arms of another. Until you ravish me, I will be looking for love and acceptance in everyone and everything but You.” You see, Donne knew what Paul knew. He knew that it’s only the fiery love of God in Christ that can bring real spiritual change in a life. And it’s coming to know and experience that, that is at the heart of true discipleship. This week I’ve been thinking a lot about true discipleship and Hebron’s ministry. You see, there are two ways to approach discipleship—the human way and His way.
Richard Lovelace, Emeritus Professor of Church History at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, once said that if you have a rod of iron that is bent, there are two ways to straighten it. First, you can take the rod into your hands, or some straightening device, and through the exertion of extreme external power, you can bend it back into shape. But once you do that, the rod is weaker than it was before, because there’s been tremendous stress applied to the rod and many of the fibers within it have been broken. In fact, if you were to continue to exert the same force, there’s a high likelihood of breaking the rod in two. Though it looks straight, it’s far weaker than it was before.
However, there’s a second way to straighten a rod and that’s to put it in the fire. And when iron is red hot, when the heat of the fire has penetrated to the core of the rod, you can shape it into a truer, stronger, straighter rod than ever before. As a result of its tempering by fire, the rod is transformed.
Lovelace says that’s the difference between moral instruction and human attempts to follow it and true discipleship. It’s only through the application of the Gospel—the fiery love of God in Jesus for you—that real godly change can occur in your life. Through the application of the Gospel you can put yourself in the fire of Jesus’ ravishing love and all your idols will begin falling away. May this month of love be marked by a fiery feeling of His love in the depths of your heart.
