Heart Tracks - Where?

"The scroll containing the messages of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him, and He unrolled the scroll to the place where it says; 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for He has appointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppression, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come.' He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue stared at Him intently. Then He said, 'This scripture has come true today before your very eyes.' " Luke 4:17-21

In this beautiful passage of Scripture, Jesus tells a people who would have likely had the verses from Isaiah memorized as to the coming of the promised Messiah, that He was indeed the very One they had been waiting for. He was telling them that the words they had known so well, likely repeated among themselves constantly, and looked to come true each day, was standing right before them. The promise of that Scripture, always before their eyes, had now come fully true before those eyes. Their response? They didn't hear. They didn't see. They didn't believe. In fact, they attempted to throw Him off a nearby cliff.

If your're reading this, you likely have at least a general understanding of God's Word. If you've been going to church for any length of time, you have heard His Word through preaching, teaching and song. You may read your Bible each day, and pray as well. You may know Scripture by heart, and able to quote long passages of it. Yet there is a question here for you, me, all of us who have such mental knowledge of that Word. Where in our lives is it coming true? In one translation of the above passage, Jesus tells them that in this very day the Word they had heard and known all their lives was being fulfilled before their eyes. Where is His Word being fulfilled not only before our eyes, but in our hearts today?

How can it be that so many who are called by His Name, who know the words He has spoken, the promises He has given, still be unable to experience those words and promises in their lives? The Jews who heard Jesus speak the words they had so loved, could not, by their unbelief, enter into the fullness of the very promise they loved so deeply. How like them are we? Jesus Christ said that He came that we might have life, and have it in abundance. How many of us really do? How many captives are still in captivity? How many blind remain blind? How many, created for His favor, actually live in it? He came that we might have all of these and more. He came that we might have Him....in intimacy, freedom, and joy. Do we?

So for all of us, where are His words really being experienced and fulfilled in us? How much of it remains ink print on paper, words in a sermon or song? How much of it lives within us? Jesus said to His hearers, "Today this word is fulfilled before you." Today, where is it fulfilled in you?

Blessings,
Pastor O