Heart Burn

Dearest friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is with rare occasion that I find myself departing from the current text of study, in this case the book of Galatians. Today friends I want to share a quick exhortation…. I was driving home from work the other evening and the Lord reminded me of a passage from Luke chapter 24, where two of Jesus’ followers were walking along the road to Emmaus and Jesus came along side of them unrecognized and proceeded to expound the scriptures as they walked along. Once they arrived at the village the two urge Jesus to come and stay with them as it was late and the day was almost gone. Jesus agreed and went in with them and as they sat at the table, Jesus blessed, broke and gave the bread to them; it was then that their eyes were opened and they knew it was Jesus and they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”  and they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem.

Now, what spoke to me as I was pondering this passage the other day was the fact that their hearts burned within them as Jesus was near; as they walked along they had no idea they were talking to the Lord but they knew within them that something was very different about this conversation. The word burn used here means to consume or set on fire; this is the fire that fuels reformation and revival, this is the fire that could not be silenced by the Pharisees when Peter stood before them and said “We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” Friends, this is the fire that ought to blaze furiously within us to passionately serve God as we pass from this life to the next. The question I ask myself and pose to you as we travel along the path God has set before us, is our heart being utterly consumed at the mere mention of the name of Jesus? Does our heart burn within us because Jesus is near? Friends, let us not reserve our hearts to smoldering embers and a poof of smoke as the fleeting thought of Jesus barely tickles our frontal lobe.

In Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior,
Mark