This week as I was preparing for a new series of Bible studies in our small group I found myself confronted with an interesting question. I was considering the life of David, and found myself contemplating what it really meant when God referred to David as "a man after my own heart".
You are probably familiar with this statement about David, as I was, but I wonder if you have really considered what a truly incredible thing it was for God to say. God pointed at a human being and commented that that person had a heart just like His own. That's nothing short of amazing.
Abraham was called a friend of God. Moses was permitted to see God and may have had a closer relationship with Him than just about anyone who ever lived. Other famous Bible characters trusted and were used by God, and became renowned as special men and women, but I know of no other person who was described as a man after God's own heart.
The point of our study will be to try to figure out just what that meant. How could a man with so many flaws (murder and adultery to name a couple of biggies) earn such a title? What would my life have to look like to be described as having God's heart?
The fact that someone as imperfect as David could be awarded such praise from God is really a source of hope for all of us. You know better than anyone what your flaws are. I know better than anyone the sins that plague me, and the areas of my life where I fall short of God's standards. And though I am painfully aware of my many shortcomings, I've never murdered anyone and I've never committed adultery. If a man like David, who fell into this depth of sin, can still find God's approval there is hope for me - and for you.
What an amazing thing that would be, for God to say "Rob is a man after my own heart". What greater thing could I aspire to? What could God say about me that would be more gratifying?
I wonder, do you have goals for your spiritual growth? Is there something you want to attain with respect to your spiritual maturity and your personal growth as a child of God? I've concluded there are few goals, if any, that would be greater than being a person God would look at and say "here's a man after my own heart".
In our class we are going to try to figure out what it was about David's life that brought about this high praise. Obviously it wasn't his sinless perfection, since he was far from that. It wasn't that he always had a perfect relationship with God. In fact on one occasion he got so angry with God that he refused to take the Ark back home and abandoned it for three months at the home of a man in another community. That is all good news for us, since perfect behaviour and a perfect relationship with God are things we are not likely to attain while living in this world. There must have been other things about David that brought God's approval. Maybe things like his trust in God, his mercy toward others, his love for God's word, his great desire to please God, and the way he responded when he committed some truly terrible sins.
In recent years I've understood more clearly than ever before that the things that please God are the things in my heart. Things like love and mercy and kindness and generosity and forgiveness. These, and other things that spring from my heart, are the qualities God is looking for. These are what we see in God's heart, and the more they become reality for me the closer I will come to being a man after God's own heart.
RESURGENCE. This is the theme Paul Penelton (Lead Pastor at The Mission) has chosen for our church for 2017. The word invokes different images for different people, but the idea behind this word as our theme is one of bringing new life where things have been dry and dusty and lifeless. Picture a spring coming forth out of the dessert, leading inevitably to green shoots and flowers and a general feeling of life and health.
Our hope is that a spiritual resurgence, fresh waters and new life springing up in dry ground, will be the reality for individuals across our congregation. If that happens in individual lives it will build and accumulate until the church as a whole begins to experience the impact.
In John 7: 37 - 38 Jesus said, "Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the scripture declare 'Rivers of living water will flow from his heart'". Verse 39 goes on to explain that this living water is really the Holy Spirit.
A similar message is found in Isaiah 43: 18 - 19. It's a message that is easy to understand. Speaking through the Old Testament prophets, and then through Jesus in the New Testament, God is clearly inviting us to experience an abundant spiritual life, one where the Spirit of God is moving in and through us. The primary requirement is... that we want it. Jesus said "If anyone is thirsty..."
The problem for most of us is that we so easily become complacent about our spiritual life and our spiritual health. It's so easy for us to just be satisfied with whatever level of spiritual fervour (or lack of) we've been accustomed to. Far too often we could be described as dry, desert-like, where there is little evidence of real life. God says if you're not happy with that, if you want more, if you are thirsty, come. That's the invitation God has set before us, and the emphasis we want to bring to the people of The Mission in 2017.
Are we simply inviting you to make another new year's resolution that you can be excited about for a couple weeks, and then lose interest? This is not about a new year's resolution. It's not about resolving to do better. That's because it's not really something you can do by simply being determined or more disciplined. In fact it's not really something you can do at all, other than to say "I want it" and mean it from your heart. We don't manufacture God's living water by being resolved. God pours it out when we come to the place of acknowledging our need and our desire for the Spirit of God to be in control and active in our lives.
Back in December we had the congregation complete a survey. The purpose was to help us better understand how interested people are in their spiritual growth, and how we could provide help and support. In answer to the question "Rate your desire to grow spiritually" 93% answered with a 7 or higher, indicating a pretty high interest. Of that number half answered with a 10, suggesting this was the most important thing in their lives.
It is fantastic that people want to place such a priority on their spiritual health! Unfortunately it can be like saying "yes, it would be nice if I could lose 20 pounds". The desire may be there but is it the kind of desire that is truly motivating?
The word thirsty implies a powerful desire. When someone is really thirsty, desperately thirsty, everything else takes second place. Quenching that thirst becomes the all consuming priority. That's the kind of thirst God wants us to have. It's why the greatest commandment is that we love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind. That speaks of a powerful thirst for God.
The reward for being spiritually thirsty is overwhelming. The reward is the Spirit of God bringing new life into our dry experience, moving in our lives in ways perhaps we have never experienced or imagined. Not a glass full. Not a pitcher full, but rivers of living water.
That's our challenge in 2017. Are you thirsty? Do you want to know the Spirit of God in your life like rivers of living water? Jesus gave the invitation. It's up to you.
You are probably familiar with this statement about David, as I was, but I wonder if you have really considered what a truly incredible thing it was for God to say. God pointed at a human being and commented that that person had a heart just like His own. That's nothing short of amazing. 
