May 11, 2011

5-11-11 Wednesday, 5:47 am Springfield, 70 degrees, partly cloudy

I left my cell phone on my desk last night at the office, and I feel incomplete, not able to instantly check my schedule, the weather, use the alarm, etc. However, because it is web-based, I will log on to my Gmail account and check my calendar. It is odd how quickly a human comes to rely on a tool, and then how disorienting it is to misplace that tool. When I carried a Day-Timer for 15 years I would have the same feelings if it were misplaced. Yesterday I took a photo with my phone of the baby bluebirds at the age of 5 days old. I will post it to my Facebook account, as I did when they were one day old. I will also post some of the graduation photos I took.

I Sam 10

God changes hearts, anoints people for leadership, and empowers those who serve Him. In these two chapters there is the account of Samuel anointing Saul privately (10:1), God changing Saul’s heart (10:9), the Spirit of God coming mightily upon Saul so that he prophesied among a group of prophets (10:10), and the public selection and anointing of Saul as king by Samuel (10:17-27). As I read this chapter, I am painfully aware of how Saul’s life ended up – jealous of David, taking matters into his own hands, rejecting God. But at this beginning of his being king, the events of chapter 10 are mysterious and inspiring. God was visibly at work through Samuel, and also in the life of Saul. Verse 26 records that “the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him.”

Reading this chapter I am impressed with the repetition of the work of God upon the hearts of men. Through his prophet, priest and judge Samuel God speaks, leads and directs. In Saul and others God changes hearts. As a “religious leader” I must constantly wait upon the Lord, discerning His leading, acting in faith upon what He instructs. I am reminded today that God is at work and that the “change of heart” is God’s realm. In 10 days my sermon will focus upon the changed heart, remembering John Wesley’s experience at Aldersgate, May 24, 1738.

From the United Methodist Website:
“In 1738, at the age of 34, John Wesley attended an evening worship service in London which moved him deeply. In his journal, Wesley described his "Aldersgate experience:"

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Holy Lord, may I be consumed with a burning heart, trusting in You alone for salvation, sharing this good news with others, as I serve You today as pastor in the Wesley faith community.