Lay Open Your Heart

J.A. Matteson

Beware of believing self-imposed characterizations of God not supported by scripture which may develop in response to your presuppositions of God's essence. "He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong" (Mk. 12:27). The spiritually fatal error for the Sadducees was not their error, per se, but their unrepentant blindness to the truth when their error was revealed to them. Jesus did not condemn the Sadducees for their reverence of scripture, nor did he chasten them for their study of it. Rather it was their biased interpretation of divine revelation, forcing it to fit their presuppositions that Christ rebuked. There are both explicit and implicit truths in scripture, and apart from the guidance of Holy Spirit it is impossible to accurately interpret and apply it, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from your Law" (Ps. 119:18). Beware of the dogmatism rooted in immature spiritual bias to support your preconceived notion of the person and work of Jesus Christ. If we are to avoid the error of the Sadducees we must come to the scripture humbly, confessing our tendency to bias, beseeching the Lord to illumine our minds to the truth of his word, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known" (1 Cor. 13:12). The transformation and salvation of Saul on the road to Damascus illustrates how a hard misguided heart, rebuked by God, ought to respond in broken humble repentance, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:4). Until this moment Saul presumed he was doing God's work by ravaging Christians. Awakened to his error Saul turned to God in repentance and faith. On the other hand the Sadducees were hardened in their unbelief. Be willing to lay open your heart before God and invite him to search you and your understanding of him, to correct innacurate presuppositions you may hold as to his person and work. And when the fog lifts, followed by the blazing light of his glory, remember to thank him for the treasure he has shared with you, "Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, 'Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to a God except this foreigner?'" (Lk. 17:15:18).

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