Who is Shaping My Heart?

 

Readings 031326

Jesus tells the scribe, 

“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
And that sounds encouraging… 

until we realize what it really means.
Not far is still not there.
Something is still in the way.

And if we’re honest, we know what it is.
We struggle to follow the commandments Jesus actually gave us.
Because every human life has dignity.
Every human life deserves justice.
Every human life receives God’s love, grace, and mercy.
But we don’t always live that way.

Somewhere along the way, we traded the Gospel for labels.
We call ourselves Christian (Insert your denomination)… 

 or conservative… 

 or liberal…
and then we let those labels tell us who to love, 

 who to fear, 

 who to ignore.

Our ideology becomes our identity.
And when that happens, 

 Christ is no longer the center—
the label is.
And that keeps us from the Kingdom of God.

Jesus makes it painfully simple:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
And love your neighbor as yourself.
No exceptions. No footnotes. No escape clauses.

The scribe understood this, and Jesus said,
“You are not far from the Kingdom.”
Not because he had the right answer—
but because his heart was finally aligned with God’s heart.

So today the question is not,
“What label do I wear?”
but
“Who is shaping my heart?”
If it is Christ—
then the Kingdom is not far at all.

Prayer

Lord, 

Turn my heart back to You alone.
Strip away the labels I cling to, 

and let Christ be my only name.

Teach me to see every person 

with dignity, justice, and mercy.
Set my mind, my strength, my whole life

on Your command of love.
Make my neighbor sacred to me, 

as sacred as You see them.
Draw me into the very heart of Your Kingdom.
And let my life proclaim that You are Lord alone.

Amen