The great paradoxes of the Bible. To live you must die; to be free you must serve; to know the truth you must see the lie. God is not trying to confuse us but to show us that His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts. Isaiah 55:8. Here is another one. Jesus was born to die so that we might live. This life is in Him. The great miracle of the word of God is that through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ lives in us. But for Him to live in us, we must die to self, selfishness and self-righteousness. It’s all about Him from the day we trusted Him as our Savior.
For 72 years, Gordon and Norma Yeager shared their lives together as husband and wife. On Oct. 12, 2011, while on a morning drive, Gordon came to a stop sign and failed to yield to oncoming traffic. The elderly couple was taken to the Marshalltown Hospital near Des Moines, Iowa, and placed in the same ICU room. Their beds were moved close together so that they could hold one another’s hands.
At 3:38 p.m., Gordon quietly passed away. But to the surprise of the family, the monitor continued to show a heartbeat. Upon closer examination by the attending nurses, it was discovered that the heartbeat belonged to his wife, who was still holding his hand. The monitor was picking up Norma’s heart through Gordon. Within 70 minutes, Norma also died, holding the hand of the one she loved so dearly.
Wouldn’t it be great if we held so close to our Heavenly Father that His heartbeat could be felt in us? That we would truly reckon ourselves dead to self so that all outward appearances of life were actually Christ living through us?
Romans 6:5 and 8: “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.”
This old heart in our bodies might quit one day, but the life we have in the Lord Jesus Christ will never end. When we know Christ as our Savior, when we trust in Jesus Christ, God’s heartbeat resides in us.
Can people feel the heartbeat of God in your life? Do others feel the presence of God around you?
Lord Jesus, may our heartbeat and yours be one so that the world might see you in me, that the world may know you through me and that the world might feel your presence in me. Amen and Amen.
Watch sermons and read sermon texts and other articles online at www.tomahawkmbc.com. Listen to Pastor Jack’s sermons on WSIP FM 98.9 every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Watch his sermons on Facebook by going to his page.