Eroding the Heart

Standing in the parking lot of a truck stop in Knoxville, Tennessee, I had time on my hands until I had to be at the next appointment. The image across the street caught my attention.

If you look at the hill behind the building, it appears as if it is eroding and threatening to slide onto the buildings below, creating a mass of destruction. The natural stability of the hill was displaced when the buildings were constructed.

Does that happen sometimes in your heart? If you displace what is meant to be there, it can undermine the very fabric of your being. If Christ is the pillar of our lives, allowing something in that undermines that pillar threatens to bring the collapse of everything held up by Christ. We are unable to make room for the strength and support Christ brings and those things which undermine His leadership. One must go because they will not co-exist, even if we want it that way. Even if we continue to welcome Christ to occupy the remaining areas of our hearts, we do not control His willingness to stay. In fact, He is completely unwilling to play second fiddle to anything in our lives and will require that we choose between Him or that other thing which has lately become more important. 

This scene plays out in extra-marital affairs, addictions, pornography, workaholism, spendaholism, and many other areas that carve into the structural fabric of our hearts and lives and displace Christ from being the central pillar in our lives.

 When you make room in your heart for activities, people and things, be careful what you carve into, so that some seemingly important object does not undermine the support structure of your life. Not everything we bring into our lives, hearts and minds will increase our support structure and increase our faith. It is up to us to be wise stewards and judge those things which demand our time, energy and involvement. Thankfully, Christ gives us the Bible to use as a standard by which to measure such things before we allow them space, time and energy.