Monday, February 8, 2010

"Fattened Hearts In A Day Of Slaughter", by Pastor Kevin Lynch

Proverbs 4:19
"The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble."

What to do with all of these poor souls stumbling around in the dark.

"Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do."

The sadness in their eyes. The striving to extract a few moments of joy and happiness out of a life of self seeking futility.

Desperation.

Eat, drink, be merry. Tomorrow we return to reality and it will be looming larger and staring us right in the face.

I once heard a person exclaim, "Why go on vacation? It just makes me hate my life more when I return."

That there is the stuff drug addicts and alcoholics are made out of. Believe me I know.

It's also pretty much anyone who is searching to fill the void.

Until it's filled with Jesus it will not satisfy.

This is the plight of the spiritually clumsy. Since we are all spirit beings in an earth suit, we will never quite feel at home until we return from our exodus from God.

Spiritual prodigals sloshing around in one pig sty after another.

It is painful to look into the eyes of the desperate and know that they are in a far country.

Want a stark reality check this morning?

"[Here] on earth you have abandoned yourselves to soft (prodigal) living and to [the pleasures of] self-indulgence and self-gratification. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter (James 5:5)."

Fattened hearts in a day of slaughter.

I purposely place myself in the midst of the slaughterhouse as often as I can. I want to be near the death. I want the Life in me to cut through the darkness.

I think I understand why Jesus spent so much time there.

He wanted to feel their pain. Smell their despair. Comfort their sorrow of just having to be alive.

John Wesley became aware of his narrow ministry as an Anglican priest in a stuffy church environment and took to the roadways proclaiming, "The world is my parish!".

Thomas Paine once wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls."

Oh yes. Indeed.

The trying of the soul has always needed the comforting of a soul.

That's what Jesus does.

His Holy Spirit is A.K.A. The Comforter

Do you need to be comforted today? Or perhaps you would allow God to use you as an agent of comfort?

The world is a sick room and it needs a Great Physician.



From the slaughterhouse,

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin

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