Overflow

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3  You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4  Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5  Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Revelation 2:3-5

One of my favorite songs by Matt Redman is “When My Heart Runs.” I used to sing this song when I led worship back in the day. I’ve never heard any other worship leader sing this song. I’ve never heard this song on Christian radio.

When my heart runs dry
And there’s no song to sing
No holy melody
No words of love within

I recall the height from which
This fragile heart has slipped
And I’ll remember You
I will turn back and do the things I used to do
For the love of You

That’s good stuff.

I’ve often wondered what makes a worship song “popular” in churches and why other great songs like this one become forgotten. For this particular song, I wonder if churches don’t sing it because the song is just too raw, too real. And when things get too raw and real, people don’t feel “encouraged.” And for many people and many churches, that can be the only point of church services and programs—personal encouragement.

The message of the song is that the responsibility of a “dry heart” falls upon each person. This song calls us to repent instead of pointing fingers at other factors or other people for our “dry hearts.” This song calls us to take responsibility and return to the love we had for Jesus at first.

And this song really hits home for me because it also gets to the heart of the message of this passage. It’s truth is the truth of the word of God.

When I first got saved, I was so on fire for Jesus. I started to see every aspect of my life through the heart of Jesus. Everything I did was an effort to respond to His love for me. I started to see other people through the heart of Jesus, and so every believer seemed so “righteous” to me.

But as I started to get more involved in the leadership of the church, I started to see the sinfulness of my brothers and sisters more and more. I became dismayed that the power of the love of Christ did not completely transform people, as I felt that it had done with me. I started to feel and think that some people resented, or were jealous of, my passion for Jesus. And I started to sink into the mire of judging and critiquing and problem solving. And my heart turned dry.

When I first heard this song, it was like Jesus was saving me once again.

There is nothing in this world that cannot be solved by the love of Christ. If we deny that truth, our hearts will run dry. If we do not continually, actively receive the love of Christ, our hearts will run dry. When we receive the love of Christ, we will give the love of Christ.

Father, Let our hearts never run dry in our GCC Canvas family. Let our “works” always be an overflow of Your love being received into our hearts. In Jesus’s name. Amen.