theology

The Cleft of His Heart

/ Morgan Grace Hart / Leave a comment

(Image courtesy of Jim Berry, www.cayman365.com)

In my mind’s eye, while I was praying, I saw myself coming up to Jesus on the cross, seeing Him bleeding and hurting, so indescribably torn up. I started to cry, and reached up to touch His injured feet with my hands. He smiled at me, as best He could with His face so beaten, and His voice was filled with affection for me. “If my hands were free to do so,” He told me, “I’d hug you right now.” I cried and cried, and finally said to Him, “Jesus, I care about You. It’s so painful to see You so…broken.” “Yes,” He said, “but the breaks are where you get in. They’re openings. Just like the cleft in the rock where you are held safe, so the fissures of my Heart are carved out for you, a place for you to be hidden.” [This was also in answer to some prayertime I had had with Him recently, about what to do if you really need a safe place to go for rest, but aren’t physically able to leave where you are.] He continued, “as an infant is safe inside its mother’s womb, so you can rest safe inside of Me.”

I kept imagining it, as my kind of peace-image: being at total peace in my Lord Christ, in the depths of His heart, in stasis in the warmth and nourishment of His Blood.

God bless you,

Morgan Grace Hart

Exodus 33:18-23; John 6:53-59; Romans 6:11

How Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade Totally Blew It

/ Morgan Grace Hart / 2 Comments

(SPOILERS ALERT!)

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, it was the 80’s, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull did not exist.

Instead, we had the original trilogy of the Indiana Jones movies.

The last of these movies was aptly titled, “The Last Crusade”. It was the (for a while, at least) last Indiana Jones movie, and a movie about searching for religious artifacts.

The movie climaxes in an iconic scene where Indy and “bad guy” must locate the Holy Grail (AKA the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper) from among a room full up cups. Bad guy, knowing very little about Christ, chooses the biggest, most expensive chalice in the room. The guardian of the Grail replies, “you have chosen poorly,” and bad guy dies. (Ok, that’s a really oversimplified version, but stay with me here). Indy says to himself – correctly – that Jesus was a carpenter’s son. Thus, Indy chooses the very simplest, most humble cup in the room. The guardian says “you have chosen wisely,” and Indy doesn’t die (and whether or not this is a good thing depends on how you felt about the Crystal Skull).

But that’s not necessarily correct, because the Grail never belonged to Jesus! In the Bible it clearly says that Jesus, who had given up pretty much everything He owned by this point in His ministry, asked a complete stranger for use of an already set-up room for this meal. Now, to put this in perspective, crashing a Passover meal is about like showing up at someone’s house at Thanksgiving to say that you and your followers  have need of their spare room and entire meal. I don’t know who that guy was that lent Jesus the entire 2nd floor of his house and his entire 12-person meal, while he and his own family presumably sat in the kitchen eating sandwiches without plates, but that guy was AWESOME. Way to put God first.

So, getting back to Indiana Jones, we have no idea what the cups in the good stranger’s house looked like. They could have been plain, or, more likely, since he was able to spare food and room for thirteen spontaneous guests, they probably had at least a little swag going on.

So, if the day ever comes that someone invites you over to their house to watch a 20-year-old movie, you can pause it at the iconic climax, Google this entry, read it aloud, and feel confident in pointing out that Indiana Jones is not theologically accurate.

I never said this story had a really important point.
God Bless Ya,

Morgan Hart

(For the full account, read Matthew 26:17-19, or Mark 14:12-17, or Luke 22:7-14.)

For a free online Bible, try Biblegateway.com

For a free description of salvation and access to a 24/7 prayer partner, try peacewithgod.net

Forgiveness and Texting

/ Morgan Grace Hart / Leave a comment

I didn’t write an entry this week, but I kept thinking about a text conversation I had once. Here is my side of the dialogue, plus some extra:

Forgiveness is hard, but what I’ve ultimately learned is that the love I have with God is such a good thing that it tends to push back hate. I think the best explanation about forgiveness comes from a man who was tortured for 14 years under Nazis then Stalin for refusing to denounce his Christian beliefs:

He said he was able to forgive those who tortured him because he knew that in Heaven, his guardian angel stood next to the guardian angel of the torturer… and they were both standing in the presence of God, trying desperately to get their respective man home safely.

Also, I feel responsible for the death and torture of Christ, because if I had not been a sinner, He would not have had to die for me. So if He can turn His blood-covered face toward me and say, “yes, I forgive you, and I love you, and I want you to be a part of my life forever”… well, I may not have that much love, but I should at least try. And the more I let his love in, the more it takes over, and I start to feel his pity for all the broken people of the world. I think, “of course they’re terrible to me! They’ve grown up in this messed up world, they’ve got baggage and brokenness and they don’t know the love that I have here in Christ”.

Basically I’m just too happy with Jesus, and that house is so full of love, that I don’t want it to be tainted by external forces like hate.

I realized once in prayer, that when I face Christ, seeing Him crucified, He died not only for my sins, but the sins of the whole world… That includes those sins others have done to me. My sins die there with Him, but also, the hurts that have been inflicted on me through the sins of others are nailed and dying on the cross. That gives me strength, to know those past hurts are dead.

God bless you, and have a good weekend.

Love, Morgan Grace Hart