The Tablet of your Heart

We live in organized human societies. This is how humans have always done, in one form or another. Throughout history, some human civilizations have been refined and truly civil, others, much less so. Humans organizing in communities are familiar with the concept of specialization and expertise. Some are highly accomplished at some things, others proficient at other things. The citizens lean on each other. Ordered exchanges of knowledge and skills are very familiar to us. As we move from mid-March to mid-April, many have income tax filing on their minds. Imagine having to know all about it on your own. Individuals with complex financial involvement will likely lean on the expertise of CPAs or even tax lawyers to get everything in order for this filing.

Thank goodness getting your business done does not require your personal knowledge of all forms, schedules, and every tax law change. What about our spiritual life? In our spiritual life, do you think it requires a degree and years of work in theology to have a relationship with Christ? Does your connection with God require expertise? I happen to know that people with Masters of Divinity or Masters of Theology degrees are not masters in every case. I have the degree, but I am no master. The only thing certain for me is I have stayed curious and in a learning mode. You know that is the preferred way.

By the time Jesus is on the scene in Galilee and Jerusalem, there is an elaborate system of the sacred law, the Torah. There are centuries of interpretation of the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures. Rabbis through the years have debated, and much of the material has been recorded and reviewed ever since, producing layers of commentary. Debate on the meaning and precise practices rolled on. It was a standing view that doctors of the law, Pharisees, and chief priests of the temple might have had a shot at right relation before God, but what hope was there for hoi polloi? I would not have stood a chance.

Hundreds of years earlier, in the time of Jeremiah, the establishment in Judah had the upper hand on what perspective prevailed. That is always the way. The prophet had a difficult time convincing authorities the status quo was off the mark. Their expertise in the law would not help them float into righteousness before God and preserve their lives. Jeremiah was breaking the news to them they had missed the target, were heading to disaster, and would soon fall to foreign powers. Their situation would unravel, with many of them destined to be carted off into captivity by the Chaldeans. They ignored his warning and they ignored his promise of good news.

Yes, Jeremiah had good news, saying a time was coming when no one would need expertise on Covenant and the Torah, Such was not a prerequisite for a saving relationship to Yahweh. When God set things right, he would put the law inside them, inscribing it on their hearts. No more tablets of stone for delivering the commandments. Their hearts would be the writing pad. Look at this announcement of the new covenant to come:

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

—Jeremiah 31:31-34

How amazing! God gives assurance that all would know the Almighty: the simple lowly, and the hotshots. This makes me think of Paul’s statement, Romans 5:5-6 — “...hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” God finds a way for our inclusion and our union for eternity. It is based not on an external code, nor on mastering things over and against others that are ill-equipped. This inclusion is based on what God wants for us and what God sees through on our behalf.

Chins up, people! Hearts open! God is ready to write a new story in your heart. It’s about God; it’s about you. It includes many amazing adventures and an unbelievably great ending.