Surgery of the Heart!

Jeremiah 4:4, “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, And take away the foreskins of your hearts,”

This past week was the Spiritual Life Conference at the Seminary. All the missionaries and church planters in the southern parts of India come in for a time of spiritual renewal and then to present what has been happening in their ministries. The theme of the conference was from Jeremiah 4:4 and circumcising our hearts. The guest speakers were to talk surrounding this challenge.

By far my favorite speaker was Dr. Chris (I could put his last name in, but you would not be able to read it), and he spoke specifically to Jeremiah 4:4. He challenged us all to look at our hearts and see if there is anything that needs to be cleaned. Is there something in our deceitful hearts that is keeping me and you from a closer presence of God? If you read further in Jeremiah you will see him talking about how deceitful the heart is and how we need to clean it. We need to repent and turn from those hidden or out in the open sins of the heart. I know when I looked I did not like everything I saw. I had to repent and make reconciliation with God.

Dr. Chris talked about four pictures of a circumcised heart:
1. Plowing: Turning over the soil of the heart and working up what is in there and removing the stones that cause bad patches in the field.
2. Operational: This is surgery, where you slice deep into the heart and surgically remove the infestation or cancer.
3. Washing/Cleansing: Clearing up the infection/cancer and making it clean and sterile.
4. Commitment to God’s Army: One who is committed to living a life for God through the Spiritual battles that take place in this world.

Jayakumar was another speaker that I greatly enjoyed. He challenged the missionaries and clarified for me why I am here teaching these men and women of God. Jayakumar talked about how 175,342 people die each day in India, and according to him through some mathematical figuring only 6,000 are Christian. It broke my heart to hear this.

How many did not accept the truth, nor had the opportunity to hear the truth because we do not have the people trained to go into these villages? We are so worried about buildings and stuff, because we can see it that we loose the trees for the forest. We need to get our priorities straight and that is people and their salvation. Training people to plant churches, whether the church is in a house, building or a field. We need to stop spending our money on the tangible temporary and start investing in the intangible eternal. Buildings are great, but in the end it is just dirt. People are eternal.

If you knew that giving up a couple of golf games a month and investing that money into helping teach people to plant churches that would ultimately lead to the salvation of many, would you do it? If you knew that giving up buying that video game, movie, or not eating out as much and investing it in church planters would lead to the Word of God being preached to a village that yet has to hear about Christ, would you do it?

Maybe God is calling you to the ministry. Are you being prompted by God to go in the mission field? Are you willing to give up your comfort zone and go to places that do not have a church, or where they need help teaching church planters, missionaries, or going and receiving training to become one yourself?

Maybe it is simpler then that. Are you willing to lead a Bible study in your neighborhood, at your school, or within your work place? Are you willing to serve as a deacon or elder? Are you able to serve in any matter that the church needs? It is not about you and not about me, but about the kingdom of God. Are you on board or just sitting on the sidelines?

Jaykumar left us with this question and I am going to leave you with it. It is not why I am here – But why are you still here?

Psalm 42:1, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.