Micah 6:8 English Standard Version (ESV) He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Shortly after my first baptism I was told by a church deacon that I was expected to become a missionary. Something within me said no. I didn’t understand why I rejected the notion, I just did. Do others place expectation upon us based on what they perceived is needed? Do we do the same to others?

I left off yesterday with the notion they perhaps they should preach the new heart before the alter call. Perhaps more detail should be addressed of the coming changes that will occur once we accept Christ. The concept of becoming a new creature was never part of any teaching I could remember prior to my alter call. My concern was over the vile person I was, not who would come out the other side of the baptismal tank.

Perhaps too much is made of our expectations of others because of our own experiences. Perhaps if we could just point to Micah 6:8 as starting point for change by telling new believers what God expects. Then as the walk humbly with God the rest of their conversion with happen within the will of God.

Before my baptism I did not like to be told what to do. A rebellious heart had been changed but the rebellious mind still held memories of resentment. I had not learned to listen to this new heart because I was not aware that I had received a heart transplant. Being told shortly afterwards might well have been received by a mind of unbelief. Much of what was to happen to me in life would have been rejected by a mind that was not yet transformed.

When a doctor prepares you for a heart transplant there is a lot of testing, education and mental preparation for the changes that will occur. Perhaps that should be our example of this spiritual heart transplant. Prepare the initiate before the baptism.

Isaiah 57:14-16 English Standard Version (ESV)

Comfort for the Contrite

¹⁴ And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” ¹⁵ For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. ¹⁶ For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made.”

There is within this passage the hope for survival of our heart attack. God revives the heart of the contrite. The Hebrew word for contrite is dakah and the point of reference for the meaning is contained in Psalm 10.

Psalm 10:10 English Standard Version (ESV) The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.

It is not enough to say “I am crushed.” God Himself has brought us down to save us. That is not something that people want to hear about a God who is saving you. If you could see a moment that was about to happen, like an oncoming train while you are stuck on the tracks, would you be grateful to the one who tackled you?

Most of us do not see the danger. We have our own set of circumstances surrounding our salvation. Rarely is it as serious as a heart attack but that is precisely what happens. We end up getting a heart transplant.

Ezekiel 36:26 English Standard Version (ESV) And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

They don’t tell us that at the alter call. Maybe they should.