Made New
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”-2 Corinthians 5:17
When I tell my kids it’s time to clean up their room it usually takes a lot of coaxing, prodding, threats of consequences, and as a last resort disciplinary action. It’s taken us quite a bit of time to figure out exactly what method of discipline works for each kid. They are motivated by the desires of their heart so the likelihood of them changing their behavior increases when something they love might be taken from them. If you think about it, we all do the same thing in our daily lives. Everyone conforms to certain social norms to get along in the world. Each phase of life holds certain expectations of us that we either obey or face the consequences, so we make choices to modify our behavior to attain the desired result. This framework has been aptly named moralistic therapeutic deism. As long as we are doing what the society around us sees as acceptable, we can be considered “good people”. What if I told you there is a better and more joyful way?
As a father, I don’t get the warm fuzzies for my kids when they fight me tooth and nail but eventually comply. I am most pleased with them when they smile and say “yes sir” when I ask them to do something, or better yet when they do things that they know they’re ought to do without me asking. Gratitude is a big deal in our house and I want to instill thankfulness in my kids. It is such a joy to me when I hear my kids thanking their mom for dinner on their own volition, or when they display grace and forgiveness toward each other. The proudest moments for me as a dad though are when I see my kids own their sins and turn from them. What makes them do those things?
I believe it’s heart change. Humans are fairly simple creatures at our core. We act according to our nature. In other words, we are motivated by what we love. I believe that those special occasions when my kids joyfully obey happen because of their love for me. The whole system works to optimize the good for everyone. If they cleaned their room without being asked, Briana and I would be thrilled, and they would benefit by having space to play and the avoidance of trip and fire hazards. They may even get a special treat. Harmony! How awesome would it be if that’s how daily life went?
It doesn’t though, does it? But the reality is that’s how God intends it to be! For us to be motivated by love for Him and for our neighbor. The problem is that we are born with hearts that have been tainted by sin and our affections are corrupted. Then we act according to the desires of our busted hearts. That could mean we go wild and live a totally depraved life, or it could also mean that we do good things, maybe we are even considered upstanding citizens, but our motivations are selfish and prideful. The good things we do are a means to the end we desire and nothing more.
Last year one of our neighbor’s alcoholism got way out of hand. We did not want them to go back to the street but there also wasn’t any real desire for change. We did the only thing we knew to do which was to require treatment. We hoped for inpatient but with Covid, outpatient was the only option. Our hopes for it to work were pretty slim, not just because the group therapy was over zoom, but because our neighbor just flat out didn’t want to participate. And guess what? We were pretty much right; certainly wouldn’t call it a success. Thankfully the Lord seems to be working in other ways in the life of this neighbor and bringing about changes, just not in the timing we had in mind. What if our neighbor had recognized the folly of the drinking habit, how it affected everyone else and then decided to make steps toward change? Wouldn’t that be so much better and likely more successful in the long run? We invite you to join us in praying for just that for this particular neighbor.
These are the reasons why at The Field’s Edge it is our firm belief that the ultimate way to affect change in someone’s life is for their heart to be changed. According to our friends at the Chalmers Center, there are four fundamental areas of relationship that need to be restored for people to be made whole: relationship with God, self, others, and the rest of creation. The key though is the relationship with God. People need to have new and better affections that cause them to live a life of love for God and neighbor and it is so clear to us that we personally do not have the power to change hearts in that way. The good news is that we know who can: the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is His good pleasure to do so.
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 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. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.-Ezekiel 36:25-28
While it takes patience, perseverance, and grace to wait on the Lord to change the hearts of those we serve, we are over the moon thrilled to share that two of our now formerly homeless neighbors were baptized last night. John and Jeannie have put their faith in Christ and they decided that it was time to obey God’s word to publicly profess that faith and be baptized. Our Program Manager Jeff wrote an awesome blog on their story that I would highly recommend reading it, but in short they have had a long and rough road but they’ve been doing pretty darn awesome lately. As you might expect there have been hurdles and setbacks, but with the help of many partners, they are both employed, they have a vehicle, and their own place to live. Sure, they needed come coaching and encouragement along the way, but the real reason why they are thriving right now is because they have been motivated by hearts that have been made new by Jesus. With new hearts that love God and neighbor, they’ve willingly and actively made a long series of God-honoring choices and been surrounded by supportive community. Isn’t that the abundant life Christ wants for us? How much better is that than mandatory alcohol treatment or doing culturally acceptable things for the sake of personal gain? So. Much. Better.
We are celebrating John and Jeannie and their walk with Christ and we want the same thing for every single one of our homeless friends. We want everyone to experience that same heart change and the Love of Jesus that motivates them to live well. We want them to experience the joy and abundance of living for Christ and being surrounded by Gospel-centered community. That is the mission of The Field’s Edge: To promote human dignity by cultivating home for the homeless and empowering a lifestyle of service for the glory of Christ. Would you join us as we pray and work?
A quick update on Construction:
We’ve had some weather delays with all of this awesome rain, but we need a couple of dry days for inspections and concrete pouring on the Community Hall. We are shooting to pour the footings next week and the slab the following week. When the concrete dries we will start seeing the structural steel going up which is going to be SO exciting. We are still shooting for September to start construction on the tiny homes but still waiting on all of the other dominos I mentioned to fall into place first. So dust off your work boots and be on the lookout for volunteer signups coming soon. Again thank you all for walking with us on this exciting journey to cultivate home!