We were in the home stretch. The finish line was so close, it should have been cakewalk. Our family devotions were drawing to a close. We were sitting around the table after dinner – well, most of us were sitting. My son was lying on the floor under the table. He often does and I don’t mind as long as he’s following along. But that night he was more interested in something else, so I asked him to sit in his seat and he could join us.
He said no. And when I asked him again, he got up and pushed his chair as far away from the table as he could, turned it to face the other direction, and sat down.
In that moment of rebellion, the finish line moved far down the road. Because our time around the table isn’t about reading a certain number of verses or completing a specific devotional. It’s about cultivating hearts. It’s about ingraining the word of God deeply into each of us. And that takes more than a moment, or an evening. It takes a lifetime.
My son’s actions perfectly illustrated outward obedience and inner defiance. When I asked him to join us at the table, I was inviting him to be close to us. His sin caused him to miss that entirely.
How many times do we find ourselves with our backs to the table? God calls us to come near. He desires to nourish us. He wants good things for us. He wants to be close to us. But we resent His asking and hope obeying “the letter of the law” will be good enough to avoid punishment. All the while we keep our hearts as far away as possible.
In our stubborn rebellion, we cut ourselves off from others, from God. This can’t be good for our hearts. The cut flower looks good, stunning even, for a little while. But eventually it can’t hide the fact that it’s dead. Nourishment and life are no longer flowing to it. No wonder Jesus said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine” (John 15:4).
It’s about your heart. It’s always been about your heart. Your heart is the prize in the battle between heaven and earth. Sin separates, divides, and isolates. It’s only destination is death. But God has made a way out of that grave. Through Jesus, He calls us back to the table, back to unity and intimacy. To connectedness. To life.
Paul wrote the church at Colosse, “Just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught” (Colossians 2:6-7).
It’s love that draws us to turn from our stubbornness and be restored to relationship, to bring our hearts back to the table.
If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. John 15:10 MSG