Some of you may have heard thought I had a stroke a while back. As a part of the follow-up, my cardiologist put me on a heart monitor for two weeks. What an amazing little device. They send it to you in the mail. You stick it on your chest. And for the next two weeks it records every beat of your heart. At the end of the time you mail it back to them and a few days later your doctor gets a complete report. Of course, they're looking for anything in your heart that is not as it should be; irregular heartbeat, AFib, etc. Personally, I found the whole process fascinating. To think that this little device could so easily provide me with a complete heart check. The good news was that I not only have a heart, but it is working fine.
But it got me thinking. Every once in a while we should all have a heart check. I don't mean an at home, do it yourself, heart check that you get from a Zio heart monitor. I'm talking about a spiritual heart check, the kind of review that helps us to see if our heart is still in the right place spiritually. Because I'll tell you what I have discovered in my own life. I found that I will go through seasons when my heart is right on track. And then there will be times when the things of life get me into spiritual arrhythmia. Have you ever been there? Can you imagine what I'm describing? There are lots of things that can contribute to this. It can be caused by busyness and the distractions of the world. We can also find ourselves out of rhythm spiritually because of worry or anxiety. Setback or discouragement in life can also get our heart out of sync with God's heart.
How do we know when this is happening? Symptoms might include becoming inconsistent in our daily devotions or weekly worship. We may also find that we are more susceptible to sin and temptation. But one of the most obvious symptoms is when we discover we no longer have the love for people we once had. When we fall into this spiritual AFib, we become jaded, even apathetic, towards those in need. We lose our passion to share Jesus in the world.
Sometimes these symptoms can come on suddenly. But often it is a gradual descent. Day by day, little by little, we are less passionate in our faith. And because it is gradual, it can sometimes be imperceivable. This is why the heart check can be so important. Today I would encourage all of us to take a little time to look inwardly to be sure our hearts are still in a good place. Because if they are not, we want to catch it early, so we can take corrective steps to get it back into rhythm.
I think we can all use a heart monitor once in a while.
Have a great rest of the week. I look forward to us all being together this Sunday as we continue our series “Life in the Spirit.”
Love you all,
Pastor Steve