It was a late night this week, we found ourselves eating dinner at 9pm or so. How European of us, don’t you think? Well, fine, good, it worked out. No big deal, in our fast paced world, we all find ourselves time shifting, doing things at odd times, just to get them all in. So, no problem, dinner after nine, fine.
Until about 3am when I woke up with heartburn. Yikes, the grinding, boiling, there just ain’t no position that is comfortable kind of heartburn. I know, now from this distance, that it isn’t really your heart but your stomach churning away, and maybe your esophagus receiving the volcanic eruptions from below. I also know that compared to real heart trouble, this was minor stuff, easily overcome, soon forgotten. All those middle of the night promises – “I’ll never eat that or then again, just get me through this, please” – surely aren’t binding, are they?
We tend to panic a bit when our heart hurts. Whether that hurt has a physical or an emotional or spiritual cause, it seems like a big deal. Or it is a big deal, but sometimes we make a wrong diagnosis. We have all sorts of things that we think will make our heart better. We make promises, we look for relief, we grasp at straws, whatever it takes, we think. Because there is no hurt like a hurting heart, no hole so deep as a hole in the heart, no hunger as powerful as a hungry heart.
But then, as Bruce Springsteen suggested, “Everybody’s got a hungry heart.” It is a common ailment, or simply part of the human condition. The desire for more, for satisfaction, for home as Bruce sings, is not a bad or destructive thing. But when it gets out of control, when it shapes everything, every choice, every plan, or hope or dream, that is when there is a problem. That is when it becomes what we call greed. That is when we see it eat away at a soul that longs for but can never find satisfaction, can never know contentment.
Jesus warned us about this condition, this heart trouble. He couldn’t have been plainer. But we manage, most of the time, to convince ourselves that he is talking to or about someone else. Not us.
Luke 12:15-34 And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." 16 Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' 18 Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."
22 He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you-- you of little faith!
29 And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. 32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Everybody’s got a hungry heart. The question is what are you hungry for? Adam Hamilton talks about Restless Heart Syndrome in the third chapter of the book Enough, which we are reading for our Stewardship emphasis this year. RHS is that condition of the heart that makes us want more, or something different, or something better. It is what drives us to be unsatisfied with what we have and always thinking we could do better.
It is understandable, however, because that is the world that we live in these days. We are told over and over that the next big thing will be the one that satisfies us, at least until the next big thing comes out. And it is not just things to buy. We are unsatisfied on all sorts of levels. We see the flaws more than we see the advantages, we long for better, fancier, cooler. Even the people in our lives can sometimes be objects of dissatisfaction, and we look for ways to upgrade. A better class of friends, a trophy spouse, better behaved kids; it’s all fodder for the heart trouble that plagues us.
Jesus tells us to be on guard against all kinds of greed. All kinds, warning us that it isn’t just acquisitiveness, but dissatisfactions too many to mention. He tells us not to worry - actually, he tells us not to keep worrying. Not to let worry fill us up, to define us. He knows that worries of all sorts crop up from time to time. It would be a difficult thing to never let a worrying though enter our brains. If that were the commandment, then we would all have something to worry about. No, what he says is don’t live for the stuff, don’t live for the next big thing, for better this or better that.
But, he says, but striving, seeking, wanting is a good thing. Wait, what? Aren’t we just supposed to be content? Just kinda “whatev’” sort of folk? Not in the least. We are to strive, but to strive for the Kingdom. For justice and peace, for hospitality and kindness. We are not supposed to be satisfied with the amount of love we generate toward God and neighbor.
It’s not about putting our hearts to sleep. The trouble is not that there is a longing in the depths of our hearts. The trouble is that we sometimes think that what will satisfy the longing is actually what is causing the discontent in the first place. We aren’t going to find the contentment we seek in the stuff – no matter how fun or useful or exciting that stuff might be – of this world. Our contentment is found in deepening relationships, with God and with neighbor, which includes those closest to us.
On Sunday come and hear some suggestions for how to overcome Restless Heart Syndrome. In the meantime, spend some time seeking your true treasure. If Jesus is right (and I’m willing to trust him) and that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also, then we need to take inventory. And when we discover, or remind ourselves what really matters, where we want to invest our time and our energy and our resources, we will find our way to contentment.
And maybe it has something to do with dinner time.
Shalom,
Derek
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