The Crystal Lewis Blog

merry christmas all!  yes…it’s Jesus birthday…or at least the time of year that we celebrate it… but today, the 23rd, is my son Solomon’s birthday.  he is 16 years old today.  i always joke that i feel like i can relate to Mary because i had my son at Christmas time, though history tells us that Jesus was probably born at a time of year that wasn’t winter….oh well, it’s fun to imagine!

i love Christmas and celebrating the fact that God, arranging the most heroic and romantic rescue mission of all time, sent his son to save us.  literally.  go tell it on the mountain, people!!!

Joel 2:13 “…rend your HEART, and not your garments. return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love…’

In the classic devotional ‘Morning and Evening’, Charles Spurgeon beautifully elaborates on this concept of ‘rending your heart’.  The difference between rending your garments and rending your heart is the same difference between religion and relationship.  the man-made and the God-made.  The outward and the inward.  In the Bible, the religious men would rend their garments, or literally tear their clothes as a ’show’ of their religious emotion.  But the sign was just that, an outward show or sign to man of how ‘holy’ they were. Spurgeon says “garment-rending and other outward signs of religious emotion are easily manifested and are frequently hypocritical; but to feel true repentance is far more difficult, and consequently far less common.”

Heart-rending, on the other hand, is “divinely wrought and solemnly felt. It is a secret grief which is personally experienced, not in mere form but as a deep, soul-moving work of the Holy Spirit upon the inmost heart of each believer.”  it’s not something done as a show to garner attention from man, but a sweet sign to the Savior that we acknowledge our need for him.  It is ‘powerfully humiliating’ (i love that!) and “completely sin-purging…. but then it is sweetly preparative” for the work the Holy Spirit will then do in our heads and hearts.  The Psalmist says in Psalm 51:6 “surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach wisdom in the inmost place.”  i believe that rending my heart means allowing my heart to be completely exposed to the eyes of the Lord.  It involves a willingness that allows full disclosure, nothing held back.   My sin acknowledged.  My wrongs confessed.  My inmost feelings laid bare.  it is then, and there in my inmost being, when i’m empty of myself, that God can come in and fill me with his spirit, refresh me with forgiveness, do yet another new thing.  Spurgeon closes by revealing the ‘how’… “we must take our hearts to Calvary. a dying Savior’s voice rent the rocks once…and it is as powerful now.  O blessed Spirit, let us hear the death-cries of Jesus, and our hearts shall be rent…”

I pray that we will not get caught up in the ’showy-ness’ of this season but that we will allow God to get, and keep, our attention.  That we will allow him full access to our hearts.  That as our hearts break before him, we will enjoy the re-filling of his spirit in us.

oh how i love a good sword fight.  some like romantic comedy’s,but me, i’m an action/adventure fan.  movies like Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, Zorro, Gladiator, the Bourne Movies (ok, there aren’t actually swords in the Bourne films…but still…), Princess Bride, Robin Hood, Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon…you get the idea.   i think one of the reasons i love these kinds of films is the fact that the truth in them rings true in my heart.  the struggle of good vs. evil.  the seemingly impossible challenges the good guys face, and the fight to the finish.  sound familiar?  Ephesians 6:10-18 gives us a vividly clear picture of what we, yes we…as in you and i, not a character in a movie, but YOU and ME… are up against.

“…put on your armor!!  we are fighting a battle here!  not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms…” (paraphrased)

now, not to diminish the putting on of the armor…because it is in fact imperative that we do so.  I mean where would Maximus be without his breastplate or helmet?  the armor definitely provides protection from the enemy!!  and the enemy is out for blood, for destruction, for death.  we need to be protected…so put on your armor.  but what i’m really wanting to remind you of is the sword.  the ONE piece of offensive equipment we are given to fight back with.  to ATTACK with!  yes, we are not sitting ducks living in fear, hiding under our armor!  NO!  we are warriors!  we have the resources to launch our own attack on the enemy.  and what is that piece of equipment? the Sword of the Spirit…the Word of God.  hide the Word in your heart, it will serve you well!  remember, the main characters of the movies i mentioned above… Aragorn, Maximus, Robin of Locksley, William Wallace… they are protected by their armor, but they are only able to defeat their enemies by wielding their swords!

“Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world” 1 John 4:4