So how do we grow, really? How do we become, become the people God intends us to be? I used to think I knew. Now it feels like I am having to unlearn everything I thought I knew, and relearn something completely other. If you had asked me 10 years ago how people moved to the life God had for them I would have simply given an answer that in one way or another said to try harder. Basically, clean up the outside by living like Jesus. It sounded good. It just didn’t work. I could clean up the outside for brief periods of time but I couldn’t keep it clean. So, I started to look at what Jesus had to say about the issue and I found that Jesus didn’t talk about cleaning up the outside. Jesus talked a lot about cleaning up the heart. According to Jesus, change and real growth starts on the inside, not on the outside. I am coming to the place where I get that, but the reality is that it is still really hard. Honestly, I haven’t found it easy to clean up my heart. OK. So I can’t clean up my own heart. This is the stuff that falls under God’s job description. I know that. Truthfully, most days, I don’t even have the desire for God to clean up my heart. I want God to snap His fingers or wave a magic wand and get me clean. I am down with this path forward but turning over my heart on a daily basis. . . Let’s get real. I have come to the point where I realize I am facing a tension, the tension between where change happens and an inability to focus in on that area. Basically, I have a heart issue. I have been at something of a loss for a time. Recently, I stumbled across something Jesus had to say about heart issues. I was reading Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 and there Jesus states that where our treasure is, our heart will be also (Matt. 6.19-21). I had always read Jesus there to be talking about money. I suppose in a sense he is. However, I think Jesus is talking about more than money. He is talking about what we value, really value in life. The principle is that whatever we value, whatever we treasure has a huge sway over the shape of our heart. Let’s call it the “Treasure Principle.” So I had to ask, what do I treasure? As I thought, I realized that I don’t really wrestle with the money and material stuff, but I do find myself attached to earthly things nonetheless. Recognition. Pride. Value from others. These can grip me. Gripping me, they shape me and my heart. Right there, it hit me. Perhaps one of the reasons I struggle so with the desire to hand my heart to God has to do with the reality that fundamentally I don’t treasure the things of heaven, God Himself. Sure, I treasure the things God can give me, but treasure God just for being God. Hmmmm. I am not so sure. What if I did treasure God, just God and not the things He could give me? What then? According to Jesus, my heart would naturally be—Guess where?—with God. So how do I learn to treasure God? I don’t know just yet. Here is what I know. I have a group of friends, fellow travelers that I meet with every Sunday at 4 pm. I plan on talking with them about it. I know that they are my greatest cheerleaders, people who will help me and hold me accountable. God uses them in my life. I know He can use them here as well.

A fellow traveler,

Blake

Spiritual Formation Pastor