Chi Rho Live Journal

[This from John Ortberg]

I saw an interview with Greg Maddox, a Hall of Famer, fabulous pitcher, [who] pitched a day or two ago. And they were talking about how it feels to pitch to Barry Bonds when he is on the brink of breaking this all-time record. And this was Greg Maddox’s comment, "I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want to be that guy."

See, if my heart was working right, what I would think is, "I don’t want to be that guy who messes up the community because I gossiped about somebody. If my heart was working right, I’d think to myself, I don’t want to be that guy who woos another person by lying to them. I don’t want to be that guy who goes through life clutching on to my stuff so much and there are little children that are dying from malnourishment and I could help them, but I don’t... I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want to be that guy that just messes people up because I never learned how to handle my anger right. I don’t want to be that guy whose heart gets smaller because I am just bitter. I don’t want to be that guy."

If our hearts worked right, we’d say that: “I don’t want to be that guy,” Not because God is this punitive, overly strict, harsh character, but because sin is such a bad thing.

But all too often, my heart’s not that healthy and so the only thing to do, John says, is bring our disordered hearts to God. If we confess our sins and we do this each week as we come here—God forgive us our debts—

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

And sometimes I think we hear these words, if you are part of a church each week, so often that they don’t stab us any more.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. (So that you won’t be the guy.) But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, (We’ll come back to this.) and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)

And then this that heals the human heart:
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)

Our healing for our restless, confused hearts only comes when we find our identity, our value, my worth, who I am. I am a child of God. We are His sons, we are His daughters.