Welcome to Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast.

Episode 27. Jesus Resurrects Your Heart (rise and shine)

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Hello human.

Easter is God’s answer to our Savior’s prayer on the Mount of Olives, the night before His arrest. 

Luke 22: 41-42

 

41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

 

From Jesus, who was a stone’s throw from His disciples, to the one stone rolled away. To an empty tomb. Our risen Jesus Christ.

Luke 24:1 -12

 

24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.

 

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

 

I am like Peter who, as Luke said, “was wondering to himself what happened.” My heart seeks confirmation every day. I know that my capacity to live with the joy of a “resurrected heart” will be only as broad and deep as my gratitude for the Savior who died for me, and three days later, rose for me.

A priceless piece of wood. A divine resurrection. Yet I keep remembering, professing, confessing. Why is that?

Because the human heart forgets.  It is always an ascent. To be clear, I do not forget that He died. I do not forget that I am saved or that I love Him. I do not have amnesia. It is not a brain thing. It is a heart thing. What I forget is how to live with a resurrected heart. Jesus died and was resurrected on the third day. My salvation is complete when I accept what He did for my life, thank Him for it and proclaim that He is Lord of my life.

Consider this.

What we feel does not always run parallel to what we “faith.” What we “faith” is built on God’s faithfulness, His promises to each of us in His word. It does not rely on how we feel. Faith requires taking action in response to how God has divinely persuaded us. That’s something BIG to be thankful for, knowing that God’s sovereignty reigns apart from our human nature. What He says He is doing for each of us, He will do. The distance between Jesus and His disciples on the Mount of Olives, when He was a stone’s throw, praying, it is that prayer that “makes our way” to God’s holy promises.

A Resurrected Heart Thrives in Deep Gratitude

A resurrected heart has the spiritual capacity to live in the deepest state of gratitude for what Jesus did. Being grateful summons humility, enabling us to seek His guidance throughout the day.

Live the day empowered by His saving grace. With this, comes joy.

Faith has zero to do with anything we did. We did nothing. Jesus did everything. We have one role. To live by faith. Faith that is capable of transcending earthly life, yet we all share the origin of human nature. A nature that is good at getting us lost. We wake up with thoughts and feelings that cast a fog over living with a resurrected heart.

Waking Up Adrift in a Morning Fog

Some days I wake up weak. Adrift in a morning fog.

I wake up feeling incompetent and incapable of doing what I need to do in that day, aka high bar. I am often apprehensive about what the day might hold; an overactive imagination can easily fog my view in the predawn hours. The “what ifs” that whisper when all I am trying to do is flip my pillow to the cold side.

Sometimes I don’t reign my thoughts in soon enough. When this happens, my day falls short of His intention. I don’t know how short because I didn’t live the day He had planned for me. I just know it does.

I have come to know that only one thing gives my human nature the right wake up call. That Jesus died on the cross because of me. I didn’t die on the cross. I didn’t change anything. He did.

Many mornings I wake up feeling weak and pray my way to WHY. Because I AM weak. That’s not easy to acknowledge for a strong-willed Type A-er like me but it is always the point at which the fog lifts. It sets the record straight before I do anything else.

The resurrection sets the record straight, once and for all. Gratitude and humility follow. I am weak. Jesus is strong. There is freedom in that and I begin to rise up to the day.

Some days I wake up broken-hearted. Adrift in a morning fog.

About my children, for instance. Worry is human nature’s go-to stall tactic. I can easily be overcome with worry over our sons—hurting when they hurt, being discouraged when they are disappointed or challenged by life’s lessons. In this worry spin, I am not all that mature as a parent. I don’t want any sadness in their hearts, in their lives. Or in the lives of their loved ones. Honestly, I want everything to go perfectly for them, and since God’s word and life experiences have told me in no uncertain terms that this is not going to happen I want them to respond perfectly, and in His Will.

Waking Up Broken-Hearted

I wake up broken-hearted about dishonesty, for instance. That sounds illusive, but it is human nature to be deceitful, especially with ourselves. We are easily motived by selfish gain. We trick ourselves by casting noble intent on an ulterior motive. It breaks my heart when I realize my intent does not align with my values, and it happens often. I have learned to ask myself what my intent is, and I am often discouraged with my motive. Even on noble things like preparing a Christian podcast. I need to be convicted by gratitude for what my Savior has done for me to approach preparation with divine intent.

Humility teaches lessons one day at a time. One moment at a time. The price of humility is a gracious heart. I am most broken-hearted by how quickly I fall out of humility. Even when I know that the human race—with all that living—has shown us ad nauseam that an insatiable heart leads to an inconsolable, joyless life.

Sometimes I wake up broken-hearted about growing my spiritual gifts, for instance. I know that God has given my creative gifts some spiritual heft with a purpose. Yet I stand ready to fritter it away on daily distractions. This diversion alone shatters my heart into a million fragmented pieces of creative intent. Frittering is ominous, dangerous. Like a dull toothache that is only rivaled by what it escalates into if left to itself. Frittering does the least amount possible to keep us from doing that which God has most called us to do; use our spiritual gifts to witness in a way that only we (you and I) can uniquely do.

What do you wake up broken-hearted about? What has you adrift in a fog?

I can tell you that being broken-hearted is a stall. It goes nowhere.

A resurrected heart is not broken. It is not stalled. A resurrected heart is not insatiable. It embraces, it loves, it reveres, it honors all the redeeming heavenly qualities we experience on this earth. And in this process, it empowers us to help others. It does stuff. A resurrected heart rises to meet the day. Jesus died. He rose. He lifts me up with Him. He is enough. I cannot resurrect my heart. He did it, does it, will do it for me. Forever.

A Resurrection Buoy

So I have a resurrection buoy today. Jesus tells us to pick up our cross and follow Him. Daily. Growing in my witness has taught me that my best life is living in deep gratitude. It starts with the cross Jesus died on.

23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Luke 9:23-25

His cross is not our cross. Our cross is to follow Him. To rise with Him.

Seek your resurrected heart. Every day.

Maybe you wake up with a strong mindset and a lifted heart. I challenge you as I challenge myself, to first acknowledge your weakness, and proclaim His strength, so as not to be walking on your path, not His.

Wake up and proclaim the cross of Jesus. He is the resurrected One. His cross connects us to a day so powerful we could slay 100 Goliaths. With one stone. Our God stone.

I am advocating for starting each morning at the foot of His cross in deep gratitude.

2 Corinthians 12:9 says:

 

9 But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

 

Thank God for being His child, counted blameless through His Son. This is an amazing promise that assures us that Jesus will intervene WHEN we fall short during our day. We are sinful when left on our own. We are blameless through Him.

13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. 1 Thessalonians 3:13

Let’s be like David. Reach in and pull the first smooth stone out of your pouch. The only one you will need. Proclaim your God Almighty.

Ask Jesus to resurrect your heart, that you rise up to His specific calling for your day.

He is never more than a stone’s throw from you. It’s the distance between your free will and God’s Will. We are always a stone’s throw from a resurrected heart.