Heart Tracks - The Trespasser

     The concept of living a life "without limits" is a popular one in the church.  I think its a biblical one as well if we apply it to all the possibilities that lie before us in Christ.  With Him all things really are possible, and we need to live our lives from that perspective.  However, there's another aspect of that which doesn't get a lot of attention.  That would be the idea of having nothing in our lives, our hearts, that is off limits to Him.  That there would be no place in our hearts where Jesus Christ is trespassing, entering into areas that we have, consciously or not, declared to be off limits to His life, ministry, and Lordship.

     John exhorts us in I John 5:21, to, "Keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts."  Jesus said that where our treasure is, "There your hearts will also be."  One man said that "Our hearts follow our money."  I would also add that they follow our time, energy, and attention investments as well.  We are living in a culture that seeks to convince us that we have certain "rights" that we must protect.  That can vary as to the characteristics of the culture we live in.  I once served Him in South Jersey.  There, people tended to have seasonal jobs, leaving them a lot of free time, but not a lot of money.  They tended to be very generous with the time they gave Him, but not their resources.  Here in Northern Virginia, its just the opposite.  The fast-paced busyness of life makes time a treasured possession.  People will give of their resources, but not of their time, which is jealously guarded.  In both cases, neither is truly giving themselves, each declaring a great part of their lives "off limits" to Him. 
    Yet it can go much deeper than this.  We can make idols of most anything, professions, family, children, marriage, and yes, ministry.  We may also do it with attitudes, bitterness, unforgiveness, the past, and the future.  We seek to maintain a rigid control over them, failing to realize that they are in fact, controlling us.  In all of these, and more, we place "Off Limits" signs before Him.  We don't want Him trespassing in any of these heart and life areas.  Yet the Father, who knows our hearts, is well aware of the existence of any and all of these.  He will, no matter how hard we try to hide, expose the sites of our hearts true treasure.  In every place where that treasure is not Him, not Christ, He will free us from the tyranny of "treasures" that in fact, keep us in chains.

    John also wrote in I John 5:12, "Whoever has God's Son has life; whoever does not have His Son does not have life."  In every area of our lives where He is not welcome, in that area, we have no life.  Only death.  In those areas, off limits to Him, we are lifeless, because we are without Him.  May the Holy Trespasser enter into every such area in my heart and yours.  May every "No Trespassing" sign in our lives fall before Him, so that He may freely enter in, with full welcome, that we may truly live a life without limits.

Blessings,

Pastor O