Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive
Chapter 12
Like the Treasures of the Kingdom
Key Verses: Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, the darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, But the LORD rises upon you, and his glory appears over you. (Isaiah 60:1-2)
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (John 11:38-44)
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. (Matthew 27:50-53)
ARISE
Pages 204-207 recount a camping trip Eldredge and his sons took into a Colorado desert, while Stasi his wife was in California with Stasi’s dying mother. The trip brought about a renewal in Eldredge and reminded him that his heart matters to God, and has always mattered to Him. Even this trip was cause for a battle with Satan, as a feeling of great oppression came over him during the five hour drive, but in the end the battle was one, and God’s glory was seen in His caring for Eldredge’s heart.
TREATING YOUR HEART FOR THE TREASURE IT IS
“Above all else guard your heart.” (Prov. 4:23). We usually here this with a sense of “keep an eye on that heart of yours,” in the way you’d warn a deputy to watching over some dangerous outlaw, or a bad dog the neighbors let run. “Don’t let him out of your sight.” Having so long believed our hearts are evil, we assume the warning is to keep us out of trouble. So we lock up our hearts and throw away the key, and then try to get on with our living. But that isn’t the spirit of the command at all. It doesn’t say guard your heart because it’s criminal; it says guard your heart because it is the wellspring of your life, because it is a treasure, because everything else depends on it. How kind of God to give us this warning, like someone’s entrusting to a friend something precious to him, with the words: “Be careful with this—it means a lot to me.” Above all else? Good grief—we don’t even do it once in a while. We might as well leave our life saving on the seat of the car with the windows rolled down—we’re that careless with our hearts. “If not for my careless heart,” sang Roy Orbison, and it might be the anthem for our lives. Things would be different. I would be farther along. My faith would be much deeper. My relationships so much better. My life would be on the path God meant for me…If not for my careless heart. We live completely backward. “All else” is above our hearts. I’ll wager that caring for your heart isn’t even a category you think in. “Let’s see—I’ve got to get the kids to soccer, the car needs to be dropped off at the shop, and I need to take a couple of hours for my heart this week.” It probably sound unbiblical, even after all we’ve covered. (Pages 207-208)
???—After all we’ve covered, does it still seem “unbiblical” to take time to guard our hearts?
Seriously now--what do you do on a daily basis to care for your heart? Okay, that wasn’t fair. How about weekly? Monthly?
Yes, we do have a cultural scrap of this called vacation. Most working-class folks get a week or two off each year, and that is the only time they actually plan something that might be good for their souls. Or they squander the scrap on some place like Miami, as a poor man spends his last dollar on a lottery ticket. And you know how it goes when you get back. The attitude among your family, friends, and colleagues is usually something like, “Great! You’re back! Hope you had a good time, ‘cause, boy, everything fell apart while you were gone and we’re expecting—now that you’re rested up—that you’ll really put your nose to the grindstone.” Whatever that week gave you is devoured in a matter of moments or days.
But God intends that we treat our hearts as the treasures of the kingdom, ransomed at tremendous cost, as if they really do matter, and matter deeply. (Pages 208-209)
???---What do you do to care for you heart—daily, weekly, monthly? Does Eldredge’s summary of what happens when we go on vacation and return sound realistic to you? Why? Or Why not?
STORING UP TO OVERFLOW
“If then you are wise, you will show yourself rather as a reservoir than as a canal. A canal spreads abroad water as it receives it, but a reservoir waits until it is filled before overflowing, and thus without loss to itself [it shares] its superabundant water.” (Bernard of Clairvaux) (Page 209)
A beautiful picture. The canal runs dry so quickly, shortly after the rains subside. Like a dry streambed in the desert. But a reservoir is a vast and deep reserve of life. We are called to live in a way that we store up reserves in our hearts and then offer them a place of abundance. Jesus said, “Every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old” (Matthew 13:52). I’m thinking, Storeroom? What storeroom? “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart… For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45, emphasis added). (Page 209)
???—What would it take in our everyday lives to put this “beautiful picture” into practice—to truly live out of the overflow of our hearts?
I’m afraid I live spiritually the same way I live financially—I get a little and I spend it. I live like a canal. I look like a reservoir when the rains come, but shortly after, I’m dried up again. (My financially responsible readers have just congratulated themselves on living a more disciplined life. But may I ask, Are you using those reserves to do things that nourish your heart? Many a Scrooge has filled his coffers while starving his soul.) “There are very many canals in the church today,” laments Julia Gatta, “but few reservoirs.” One woman deeply involved in ministry wrote to me recently that she is “burned out to a crackling crunch.” She has been a canal. She hasn’t cared for her heart. She is not alone.
How would you live differently if you believed your heart was the treasure of the kingdom? (Pages 209-210)
???—How does your use of money reflect the “canal or reservoir” principle? How WOULD you behave differently if you believed your heart was the treasure of the kingdom?
This is what God tells us to do, above all else, as the passage says. Last week over breakfast I asked a small group of friends—men who fight for the hearts of others all the time—“What are you doing these days to care for your heart?” They fell silent, eyes roaming the floor, staring at their eggs, examining their nails as if they were pondering a really good answer, but nothing ever came. I was saddened, but not surprised. Our hearts are always the first things to go.
But did you know that God gives out of the abundance of his heart? One of the first things John tells us about his dear friend Jesus is that “from the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” (John 1:16) From God’s fullness, we receive blessing. Or as Paul prays in Ephesians, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you” (3:16), which is to say, out of the riches God has stored up in his great heart, he gives to ours. (Page 210)
???—What promises are there for us in the two Scriptures Eldredge quotes?
Has it ever occurred to you that God is such a loving and generous person because his heart is filled, like a reservoir, with joy? It is because his heart is brimming with good things and experience that God is able to love and forgive and suffer so long for mankind. The same holds true for us. Are you a delight to be with after an hour in traffic? No wonder we are so short on grace and mercy. Life drains us dry—and we just accept it as the normal way to live. (Page 211)
???---What do you need to do to be more full of love and generosity, to have a heart “reservoir” of joy?
AS AN ACT OF LOVE
Caring for our own hearts isn’t selfishness; it’s how we being to love.
Yes, we care for our hearts for the sake of others. Does that sound like a contradiction? Not at all. What will you bring to others if your heart is empty, dried up, pinned down? Love is the point. And you can’t love without your heart, and you can’t love well unless your heart is well.
When it comes to the whole subject of loving others, you must know this: how you handle your own heart is how you will handle others. This is the wisdom behind Jesus’ urging us to love others as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31) “A horrible command,” as C.S. Lewis points out, “if the self were simply to be hated.” If you dismiss your heart, you will end up dismissing theirs. If you expect perfection of your heart, you will raise that same standard for them. If you manage your heart for efficiency and performance, that is what you’ll pressure them to be.
“But,” you protest, “I have lots of grace for other people. I’m just hard on myself.” I tried the same excuse for years. It doesn’t work. Even though we may try to be merciful toward others while we neglect or beat up ourselves, they can see how we treat our own hearts, and they will always feel the treatment will be the same for them. They are right. Eventually, inevitably, we will treat them poorly, too. (Pages 211-212)
???—How do you respond to Eldredge’s analysis that unless we care for our own hearts, we will inevitably be unable to care for others as well?
Yes, there is a place for sacrifice. And yes, I know, a lot of very selfish things have been done under the excuse that “I’m taking care of my heart.” I’ve heard divorces and affairs justified that way. But the fact that someone abuses an idea doesn’t make it a bad idea. People overeat too. Dos that mean you shouldn’t enjoy eating? Some pretty awful things have been done in the name of Christianity. Does that mean you shouldn’t be a Christian? Don’t let others’ bad choices shape your life. Care for your heart. Above all else. Not only for your own sake; not even primarily for your own sake. Do it in order to love better, for the sake of those who need you. And they need you. Remember—this is our most desperate hour. (Page 212)
???—What excuses have you made for not caring for your heart that sound right on the surface, but which don’t hold up upon closer examination?
AS AN ACT OF DEVOTION
Caring for your heart is also how you protect your relationship with God.
Now there’s a thought. But isn’t our heart the new dwelling place of God? It is where we commune with Him. It is where we hear His voice. Most of the folks I know who have never heard God speak to them are the same folks who live far from their hearts; they practice the Christianity of principles. Then they wonder why God seems distant. I guess all that intimacy with God stuff is for others, not me. It’s like a friend who hates the telephone. He neglects to pay the bills, could care less when the phone company disconnects the service. Then he wonders why ‘nobody ever calls.’ You cannot cut off your heart and expect to hear from God.” (Page 213)
???—Do you see the connection between caring for your heart and closeness to God as Eldredge presents it here?
Clairvaux describes Christian maturity as the stage where “we love ourselves for God’s sake,” meaning that because he considers our hearts the treasures of the kingdom, we do too. We care for ourselves in the same way a woman who knows she is deeply loved cares for herself, while a woman who has been tossed aside tends to “let herself go,” as the saying goes. God’s friends care for their hearts because they matter to him. (Page 213)
???—How much would an outsider say that you know you matter to God, based on how you care for your own heart?
WHAT WILL YOU DO?
So, let me ask again: How would you live differently if you believed your heart was the treasure of the kingdom?
What does your heart need? In some sense it’s a personal question, unique to our makeup and what brings us life. For some it’s music; for others it’s reading; for still others it’s gardening. Our friend Lori loves the city; I can’t wait to get out of one. Bard reads articles on flying; Cherie loves a good novel. Bethann loves horses, and Gary needs time working in the woodshop. You know what makes your heart refreshed, the things that make you come alive. I don’t get the thing with women and baths, but I know that Stasi loves them and finds a little retreat in a fifteen-minute tub: “He leads me to soak in bubbly waters.” For me and the boys it’s the dirtier the happier.
Yet there are some needs that all hearts have in common. We need beauty; that’s clear enough from the fact that God has filled the world with it….
We need to drink in beauty where we can get it—in music, in nature, in art, in a great meal shared. These are all gifts to us from God’s generous heart. Friends, those things are not decorations to a life; they bring us life…
I don’t think I could have finished this book if it weren’t for the walks I take each day in the woods. Last night it began to snow. It is still snowing now. It, too, is a gift to my heart. Early this morning I just sat and watched it fall; so quiet and beautiful, it felt like a balm to my soul. (Pages 214-215)
???—With which of the above needs does your heart resonate?
We need silence and solitude. Often. Jesus modeled that, thought few of us ever follow His example. Not even one full chapter into the gospel of Mark, there’s quite a stir being created by the Nazarene. “The whole town gathered at the door,” which is to say, Jesus is becoming the man to see. Let’s pick up the story there:
That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases…Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else.” (Mark 1:32-38)
“Everyone is looking for you!” Surely you can relate to that. At work, at home, at church, aren’t there times when everything seems to come down on you? Now this is a tremendous opportunity. I mean if Jesus really wants to launch his ministry, increase sales, expand his audience, this sure looks like the chance to do it. What does he do? He leaves. He walks away. Everyone is looking for you! Oh, really…then we’d better leave. It cracks me up. Wendell Berry might have bee writing of Jesus when he said, “His wildness was in his refusal—or inability—to live within other people’s expectations.” We are just the opposite; our entire lives are ruled by the expectations of others, and when we live lkek that, the heart is always the first thing to go. (Pages 215-216)
???—How do you fulfill your heart’s need for silence and solitude?
Let me ask again: What does your heart need? A simple starting place would be to ask God: What do you have for my heart? You’ll be stunned by what he guides you into. Here Eldredge recounts God’s prompting for him to take a friend and go fishing. Then he recounts how his life group had written down their goals for the coming year. He writes: Ten months had passed when Jenny suggested we have a look at what we’d jotted down. Reviewing our desires was astounding in two ways. First, most of us had completely forgotten what we were longing for (The sign of an abandoned heart: we didn’t even remember our own dreams.) Stasi hadn’t recalled wanting to speak to women. I’d forgotten that I wanted to go to Alaska…. But what was even more astounding was that God had not forgotten. We’d gone to Alaska. Joni had gone to the Tetons. …. On every single person’s list—in more cases than not—God had given us our heart’s desire. Wow. Our hearts do matter to God.
Now the Enemy will tell you this is foolish. There are so many more important things to do. You can get to it some other time. You’re being selfish. This isn’t even what you want anyway. Remember: he fears you—fears your heart’s coming alive and full and free. Caring for your heart is an act of obedience. It is an act of love, and act of faith, an act of war. (Pages 216-217)
???—Have you ever asked God, “What do you have for my heart?” Do you respond to His promptings when they come?
AS AN ACT OF WAR
Caring for your heart is your first blow against the Enemy’s schemes.
The heart that is weak is vulnerable. Are you able to fend off accusation when you are wiped out from a hard week? It seems so true at that point, and who really cares anyway? You know how draining the holidays can be. Are you overflowing with prayer the day after Christmas? Listen—the first wave of any strike against us is to rob us of the heart to fight it. It always starts that way, with that sense of being too tired or overwhelmed. Heads up—the main assault is coming on the heels of it. Facing an overwhelming enemy at Agincourt, King Henry prays for his men, that the opposing numbers will not “pluck their hearts from them.”
It works like this: hyenas cannot bring down a lion in its prime. What they do is run it and taunt it and wear it down to the point of exhaustion. Once they see it cannot defend itself, then they close in. The strategy of our Enemy in the age we live in now is busyness or drivenness. Ask the people you know how things are going. Nine out of ten will answer something to the effect of “really busy.” Every time I call another ministry I get voice mail. “They’re busy right now, can I put you into voice mail?” The deadly scheme is this: keep them running. That way, they’ll never take care of their hearts. We’ll burn them out and take them out .
I don’t want to be taken out. Others are counting on me. I must care for my heart as my first line of defense. (Page 218)
??? – Are you “busy” right now? How are you keeping your heart strong?
Also, an empty heart is more vulnerable to temptation. Isn’t it when you’re sad and discouraged that a bag of donuts looks like salvation? When your bored and lonely that the adult cable channel seems irresistible? A heart that has been cared for is like a man or woman deeply in love—an affair isn’t even appealing when you have the real deal. It’s the famished heart that falls for seduction. (Page 218)
???—Think of the times you have succumbed to temptation. Were they times when your heart was “empty” or “full”? What does this say about the need to guard our hearts?
AND WE ARE AT WAR, DEAR FRIENDS
If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? (Jer. 12.5)
Look—it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Jesus warned us about that. So let me say, one more time, we are at war. The worst scenes in The Lord of the Rings or The Matrix or Gladiator are merely trying to wake you to the reality in which you now live. The Ransom of your life commands you to take care of your heart…now. He knows what’s coming. Eldredge compares “what’s coming” to the battle for Iwo Jima in WWII. It will be like hell before it’s over! (Page 219-220)
???—By this point, are you convinced that we really are at war?
TAKE HEART
We are now going to war. This is the beginning of the end. The hour is late, and you are needed. We need your heart.
If there were something more I could do to help you see, I wish to God I could have done it. Tears fill my eyes for I fear I have not done enough. You must turn, then, back to myth—tomorrow and the next day and the next. Eldredge urges us to return to all the stories he has used to remind us that we are at war, and then he says this: We are now far into this epic Story that every great myth points to. We have reached the moment where we, too, must find our courage and rise up to recover our hearts and fight for the hearts of others. The hour is late, and much time has been wasted….Grab everything that God sends you. You’ll need everything that helps you see with the eyes of your heart, including those myths, and the way they illume for us the words God has given in Scripture, to which “you will do well to pay attention…as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19).
Yes. Until the day dawns, my friends, and the Morning star rises in all our hearts.” (Pages 220-221)
???—What will you do now to guard your heart, and to be ready for the battle?