Wednesday 24th June - Soul X-Rays

DAILY BYTE

Today we continue with the story of Jesus challenging the Pharisees for their unhealthy focus on external works. This story emphasises how essential it is for us to know our hearts. If we are to grow spiritually and be transformed it is vital that we are able to acknowledge and own the reality of our inner worlds.

The founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, used to insist that all his small groups began their meetings with the question: ‘How goes it with your soul?’ Sadly, this is not a question we often ask each other these days. It is far easier and less messy to remain in denial about the dark corners of our hearts and to ignore the deep pains and hurts we harbour within.

When I was a teenager I broke my arm quite badly in a skate-board accident. I remember the agony of being placed in uncomfortable positions while the radiologist took x-rays. This painful procedure was very necessary however for the doctors to see where to place the pins and screws to properly heal the break. In the same way we need to regularly undergo a good, honest soul x-ray. It is an uncomfortable, even painful process, but so necessary for our healing and transformation. I would like to make a few suggestions as how to undergo a ‘soul x-ray’. Begin by asking yourself the following hard questions:

1. Jesus said ‘the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart’. Elsewhere it is said ‘the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.’ What kind of words come past your lips in unguarded moments? Can you discern a pattern of anger, prejudice or fear? How do you speak to loved ones behind closed doors? How do you speak about those who are different to you or from another cultural group?

Reflecting on this will give you some insight into your status beneath the surface.

2. Look back at some recent times of crisis or stress. What did they reveal about your heart? How did you react?

There is nothing like stress to bring down the masks and expose the hidden truths of the soul.

3. Finally, a good indicator of where we are at beneath the surface is to check on your recent social interactions. Who have you chosen to embrace and who might you have excluded? Who are you when you are in the wrong company? Does your character change to suit the crowd, or are you constant, determined by an inner strength? Do you treat the most powerful person in your life and the weakest with the same respect and dignity?

Admittedly, none of these are easy questions, however, wrestling with them can prove to be a very useful spiritual exercise. They perform, as it were, an x-ray of our souls – they give some indication of what lies beneath the surface.

PRAY AS YOU GO

O’ God of all Truth and Love. We would ask that the light of your grace would be known in the very depths of our souls, even the darkest corners and most tightly shut cupboards. Help us to bring out that which has been hidden, help us to face up to that which we have feared. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Matthew 15:17-20 (NIV)

"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a person 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a person 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make them 'unclean.' "