Veiled Hearts

“Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (II Corinthians 3:12-18 NIV)

It happens every week, sometimes even for a lifetime.  People will hear the Word of God preached and leave totally unaffected.  I have known people who have been faithful churchgoers their entire lives whose only purpose for being there it seems is being there.  The only change that takes place in their lives is they grow older.  I have seen students involved in campus ministry for three, four, even five years that remain unchanged spiritually.  They come, they hear, they leave, totally unmoved by the Word.

How can people be exposed to years of teaching from the Word and remain unchanged by it?  Paul provides a clue.  For centuries the Word of God was read in the Jewish synagogues, but, as Jesus correctly pointed out (Mark 7:5-7), the hearts of the Jews were far from Lord.  He says a veil covered their hearts.  That veil is religious ritual, the performance of religious activity without any real life or belief behind it.  

There is only one cure according to Paul: Jesus.  Only Jesus can take the veil away.  Only a relationship with Jesus can open up the heart to be changed and transformed.  And the relationship to which we refer is ongoing and dynamic, not the “I once asked Jesus into my heart” kind where the beginning is in reality the end.  The prayer has been said and now there is nothing more to do.  

No, this relationship is like a marriage.  We fall in love, make a commitment and live it out the rest of our lives, falling deeper and deeper in love as the years go by and being transformed by the relationship as our hearts open wider and wider.  

I was a churchgoer much of my young life, but it meant little to me.  I really didn’t understand it.  I was there.  I sang the songs.  I listened to the sermon.  I left unchanged.  It wasn’t until I decided to give my life to Jesus that my eyes were opened and my heart unveiled.  Then my life began to be transformed.

In what state is your heart today?  Is it veiled by years of religious ritual? Does your life remain unchanged?  There is a cure and it is Jesus.  Only He can take a heart and infuse it with life.

© Jim Musser 2012