Before COVID 19 shut it down my wife and I attended a social dance at which American Country Music song ‘Somewhere Between Your Heart and Mine’ (a love song - not Christian) was performed.
I have imagined our LORD sorrowfully singing some of its words to His wayward dying world.
Fraying
It seems hardly a day goes by when we don’t see on the news that some film or sports star, a politician or leader of the corporate world has either stolen, imported or otherwise breached the criminal law, or it’s alleged there’s guilt of an historical sex crime.
These ‘stars’ are not like the stars referred to in Scripture who: continue to work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you…in this crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars…as you hold out the word of life (Philippians chapter 2 verses12-16). (Whilst every Christian is forgiven by God none is any better nor deserves heaven more so than any non-believer.)
Perhaps with the assistance of DNA evidence the 35 year old murder has been solved and the accused is ‘assisting’ police with their inquiries. After a lengthy jury trial a handsome young Olympic athlete of yesteryear has been convicted of importing a staggering quantity of the drug ice with a street value of equally Olympic proportions.
And so: Somewhere between…
your heart and mine
There’s a window that I can’t see through -[God can weigh hearts and assess motives]
There’s a wall so high it reaches the sky
Somewhere between me and you.
Man has constructed a high wall between himself and his Creator whom he refuses to acknowledge. Nevertheless, Jesus came to pay a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay (Anonymous), and in so doing offered us the opportunity to ‘get right’ with God, it being solely our choice.
As Jesus rounded the bend in the road inching ever closer towards the gruesome death He was to suffer, once and for all time to pay the penalty for all the godlessness and ungodliness ever committed on planet earth, Jerusalem came into view. He then uttered perhaps the saddest words in the Bible.
When He said…
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you would not. (Matthew chapter 23 verse 37).
Shortly after Easter Friday, being the day when Christians the world over remember the brutality of Jesus’ crucifixion shockingly portrayed in the movie ‘The Passion of the Christ’, the camera was taken into the streets of Israel.
At random passers-by were asked: 'what did Jesus’ sacrifice mean for you?’ The response was the same as it would probably be on virtually any street in secular Australia - Jesus who? And yet Jesus (God the Son) had paid to God the Father the price of the eternal salvation of the whole of mankind although only some will accept it and enjoy the benefit of it.
I love you so much I can’t let you go
And sometimes I believe you love me
But somewhere between your heart and mine
There’s a door without any key.
He doesn’t do this
Always the ‘gentleman’ God never tries to force Himself on anyone. We have to want Him. As with us parents who cannot force our children to love us, so it is with the Almighty. Respectfully and thankfully, true love from us towards God must be offered voluntarily otherwise it is not true love but rather forced ‘love’ which is not love at all.
Not surprisingly we find in Scripture the same idea as in the song about the door “without any key”. We read in Revelation chapter 3 verse 20 that God experiences the same issue with us.
Here I am! I stand at the door [of your heart] and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with Me. The handle is only on our side. We have to let Him in ‘else He stays outside and we remain the forever-loser.
Earlier in that same passage God says: You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked…buy from Me gold refined in the fire so you can become rich…and salve to put on your eyes so you can see. (Revelation chapter 3 verses 17/18).
A different worldview
Perhaps you are reading for the first time something like this written from a spiritual perspective; the Christian worldview. Compare what Oxford University Emeritus Professor Richard Dawkins, the author of The Greatest Show on Earth: the Evidence for Evolution (2009), wrote.
This is a book about evidence and we have no evidence bearing upon the momentous event that was the start of evolution on this planet. (p 416)…We are not descended from chimpanzees but it’s a fair bet [why is it?] that the common ancestor we share with them was more like a chimp than like us. (p 187).
His conclusion? The theory that we seek of the origin of life on this planet should therefore positively not be a plausible theory. (p 421/22). This is ridiculous evolution speak, insulting to intelligence.
The detective investigating a murder scene knows that a theory requires some evidence to support it otherwise it’s not a theory at all but merely a mindset. After seriously considering the blindingly complex human gestation period, the brain, heart and entire human body with its intricate systems, and the perfect balance in nature, you decide.
Gavin Lawrie is a retired Barrister and Solicitor from Tweed Heads NSW Australia and author of the book: 'THE EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION: Uncovering The Faulty Science Of Dawkins' Attack On Creationism'. He is married to Jan with two adult children and they are grandparents.
Gavin Lawrie's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/gavin-lawrie.html