Written On Our Hearts

I’m currently reading through the Bible cover to cover. Each time I read through the Bible something blessedly new comes to my attention. This time, as I read through the book of Leviticus, what caught my attention was not a particular verse, but rather the title of the book itself. What does Leviticus mean?

The opening word of Leviticus in Hebrew is wayyiqra’, which means “and he called” or "The Lord called". The Jews used this word as a title for this book. The opening verse of Leviticus begins with these words, "The Lord called Moses to the tent of meeting and spoke to him”

God had something important to share with Moses; and he called Moses into the tent. After God called Moses he proceeded to lay out the patterns of worship and daily behavior for the tribes of Israel to follow – he gave this to Moses and instructed him to teach the rest of Israel. This tribal name wayyiqra’ would be later translated by the Greeks into the name “Leviticus” that we use today.

Perhaps what captures my interest the most with this is wondering what would have happened if God had called and Moses wasn’t listening because he was too busy?

Imagine that fateful day when Moses was tending the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro. Moses was leading the flock through the wilderness and approaching Mount Horeb, when he saw this burning bush that was not being consumed by the flame.

Moses turns to his fellow shepherds and says, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” (Exo 3:3)

“I must turn aside” tells us that Moses was busy; he was doing something – going somewhere that he needed to turn aside from in order to see this bush. What might have happened had he said to himself or his fellow shepherds, “I’m too busy. I have too much going on right now to stop. Maybe on our way back – if we have time and the bush is still burning – then maybe I’ll stop and take a look.” Would Moses have missed the most important message of his life?

What do we miss when we are too busy to hear God’s call? What plan does God have for us that we fail to live out when we let our busy-ness run our lives rather than letting God run our lives? Imagine that God has some word for us about our own worship and daily behavior and we miss that word because when God calls – because we aren’t paying attention. We aren’t listening. We are too busy.

Leviticus isn’t the only place we find scripture telling us to slow down.

Psalm 37 reminds us, “Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him”
Proverbs 19 tells us, “one who moves too hurriedly misses the way.”
Isaiah 40 shares with us, “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;”
In the New Testament we hear from Paul who writes this in his letter to the Romans in chapter 12, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

Our scripture is rife with exhortation to each of us to slow down, to be attentive to the presence of the Lord, to talk to God – pray to God – and to listen to God. We are called to be in the spirit of God. When we are not in this presence of God we face the alternative – not having God in our lives.

There is a deception we perpetuate when we believe we can have a life separate from God. It is this deception that caused our fall from grace – and led to Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden. We cannot live a life separate from God. Actually, I might say we could live a life separate from God – but it would be an empty life, a miserable life, a life without meaning.

The Apostle Paul talks about this very thing in his letter to the Corinthians. Listen closely to these words: “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Scripture of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ towards God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor 3:2-6)

As we look at this reading more closely it is important for us to understand that our very lives – our heart and our soul – are written on by Christ; but, we must slow down in order to let Christ into our lives and allow this to happen. When we allow Christ to be a part of our lives – our lives change!

We have confidence when Christ is in our lives. We have a sense of peace and purpose and happiness that in spite of our difficulties we show a growing trust in God’s control over the circumstances in our life. We reflect this peace and praise our Lord – this is a peace and praise that comes from knowing that Christ suffered for us and that as Christians – we too sometimes suffer. And I believe this confidence is evidence that the transforming power of the Holy Spirit is at work within us.

The other night I was part of a discussion where we talked about what it means to be a Christian. Being a true Christian means more than just coming to church on Sunday morning. Being a true Christian means that we are being changed from within. We are changing into the beings God intends us to be.

But this means we have to give time to God to allow this to happen!

We are a letter that is being written. We are the paper and Christ is the pen. The question we must ask is, what is being written? Are we a novel or a Calvin and Hobbes Comic book? Are we the National Enquirer or the New York Times? Are we the sports section or the cooking section? Are we The Daily Post or the Christian Daily?

What is being written in your letter – on your heart? If someone were to read your letter right now – what would they read? Would they read words like that which Paul has written? Would they know that you are a Christian and a true disciple of Christ? Would they know that you are compelled by Christ and that you make time each day for Him?

I would hope so. In fact, I would hope that people would find written words similar to these on my heart – and these are the words I want to share with you as well as all who would listen:

I am a letter of Christ, written not with ink, but with the Holy Spirit sent to me by the living God. God has not written on stone tablets this time, but on my heart. I find my confidence in God through Christ. I claim nothing of myself nor through myself save that which God has given me. All that I am, all that I will ever be, is through the Spirit of God which gives me life.

Peace be with you my friends.

Until next time,
Reverend Patrick Schultz