Don't Wanna Be An Egg!

My husband often shares this wonderful analogy involving an egg, carrot and tea (some great philosopher may have given this analogy first, but since I've only heard my husband say it, I will give him credit).

If exposed to boiling water...

The egg gets HARD

The carrot gets Soft

But the tea... the tea instead changes the water.

When all three items are exposed to the same environment, a boiling pot of water, they are all impacted, but only the tea makes a difference to that which is surrounding it. Such are are our hearts at times.

Much of what goes on in this world - in our homes, communities, schools, churches, jobs - will have an impact on us... sometimes our experiences are good, but at times they expose us to the pot of boiling water.

What is your pot of boiling water?

Sometimes the impact of the boiling water seems like too much or that it has gone on far too long, so how do we become like the tea where we can make a difference rather than our circumstances just making our hearts too soft or too hard?

I grew up in a community mostly surrounded by poverty and broken families.  I've often asked "what determines whether or not a child is able to get out of poverty as an adult and/or create a healthy, strong family? " (By the way, if you've read my previous blogs, you'll know that I don't necessarily believe that poverty is "bad" nor is rich considered "success" or vice versa).  There are many books outlining possible reasons; I will not pretend that I have all the answers - though I do think I have a few insights based on my personal experience.

As it pertains to sin, the Bible is very clear that God will always provide a way out of every temptation (1 Cor 10:13), but just getting out of sin or away from sin (or a hurtful/difficult situation) doesn't necessarily pave the way for impacting the world for Christ.

Hebrews 3 discusses the hardships of an improperly conditioned heart - mostly discussing the "hard" heart.  When a heart is not properly conditioned, it is impossible to fully obey and please God.  A hard or soft heart tends to provoke God or push Him out; it convinces us to do things our own way... possibly creating new gods for our ourselves by trying to find comfort (through shopping, food, alcohol, pornography, relationships) or by pretending we can handle it (work, money, isolation, control).

Thankfully, the Word of God never leaves us without hope; the text regarding the improperly conditioned heart leads right into Hebrews 4 where it beautifully outlines that we do NOT have to be in this distress because there is "rest".  I learned about 3 types of rest as I studied Hebrews 4 with my Bible Study Class this week.

1. Rest and satisfaction with one's work (vs 3-4, 8-10): 

On the 7th day God rested from His work.  The Bible never says that He rested because He was tired; in fact, it doesn't even mention Him just sitting idle, but instead states that He blessed and sanctified the 7th day (Gen 2:3).  But just before the 7th day began, Genesis 1:31 states, "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good."  He had satisfaction in His work.  Is it possible that we can enter into this same rest?  I encourage you to take a look around at the opportunities that God has provided and given the courage to uphold, and simply take rest in His faithfulness and our willingness to endure and obey.  The results of our willingness may not appear today, but it will come.

2. Rest of deliverance (vs 14-16):

Drawing near to the Lord will provide us rest as we realize He is a God who can sympathize because through Jesus, He too was fully human and experienced temptation, loss, hurtful words, and betrayal.  And through this same Jesus, God provided us grace and deliverance.  It is an amazing story of sacrifice and mercy.  God knew, when He put Jesus on the cross, how dark our hearts would be; yet He loved us so much (and because He had vision for who we can become) that He made the sacrifice.

3. Rest of salvation and a life of eternity:

This is not specifically mentioned in Hebrews 4, but it is the message of the entire Bible.  We can rest in the assurance that God has made a way for us to enter into a place of perfect peace.  It is hard to even imagine what that may be like.  Because of this promise, we don't have a reason to fear even death.

We can protect ourselves from creating a heart that is too hard or too soft by entering into God's rest that He created for us.  If we allow our hearts to be molded and shaped by the world - we become blinded.  When our hearts are at rest and properly conditioned, we are more at ease and able to see opportunities and allow Him to work through us to change the world.

Father God, I pray today that You will see our hearts and help us identify the areas in which we have become too hard or too soft.  I so desire for my heart to be compassionate and even angry about the things in which You are compassionate and angry - but I also want to be in Your rest so that I can be most effective for whatever opportunities You put before me.  I do not want to be blinded by a heart that has been molded and shaped by the world rather than by You.  Praise be to Your name that such a rest exists!  Amen.

*If you are in the Tulsa area and would like to study the book of Hebrews with us, join us at Highland Park Christian Church!

*If you are struggling with a hurt, habit or hang-up, please look for a Celebrate Recovery near you.