Stones or Hearts?

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:3

In 2 Corinthians 3:3, the apostle contrasts the material substance with which the old and new covenants are concerned. The law was written on stones; the Spirit writes on human hearts. The old covenant is concerned with stones, with dead things; the new covenant is concerned with hearts, with living people. One mark, therefore, of false Christianity is that it is always deeply concerned with the importance of things: stones, rituals, ceremonies, buildings, stained-glass windows, spires, organs, proper procedures. The emphasis is put on these at the expense of people. But when the new covenant is in operation, it is the other way around. People are the important matter. Things are only useful as they help or do not help people.

Look at Jesus. See how utterly careless he was about the precise regulations of the Pharisees when those regulations stood in the way of healing people. Even the Sabbath was set aside when it stood in the way of meeting the needs of people. Jesus said that his disciples ate grain on the Sabbath because the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The ultimate concern of the new covenant is always for people. The old covenant puts things first.

A number of years ago, a church in California hired a young man to reach youth and bring them into the church. He was so successful that soon the auditorium of the church was filled with young people — but in the eyes of the church elders they were the wrong young people, because they were for the most part street people with bare feet, bizarre clothing, and untraditional ways. Eventually the youth leader was let go because, as he was told, You are bringing this trash from the streets into our nice sanctuary. That is an extreme form of the old covenant in action.

The world of business and politics almost always operates on the basis of the old covenant. That is why money is usually more important than people. When vested interests are at stake, the rights of people usually suffer. Let a company face a drop in sales or production and what happens? Management takes up the axe and heads begin to roll with little regard to whether people are going to starve or not. Profits come first. And how much of this attitude is also seen in the church! Reputations often come before people. Programs and customs are perpetuated, not because they meet needs but because status and acceptance are at stake — a dead giveaway that dependence is on everything coming from us rather than everything coming from God

Lord, grant me the ability to see thorough those things that matter so little to you and focus on the needs of those around me who need to see your love in action. Amen.