Today's Inspiration & Scripture

Grace & Peace,

I find so many great posts on my Facebook timeline. They are often inspiring and thought provoking. Today's blog post is courtesy of such. My dear brother Richard D'Abreu Jr posted the following and I knew I had to share.

Be blessed.

I've been reading the Gospel of Matthew recently. Today, I read chapter 23, with Jesus' hard-hitting words about the religious leaders and teachers. Check it out when you have a chance. He called them hypocrites, because they did not "practice what they preached." 

I began to pray, Lord, forgive me when I have been that hypocritical leader, who puts on an outward show of piety and righteousness, but in my actions and the way I live, I completely contradict that. 

An example of Jesus' convicting words is found in verses 25-26 (NIV): "...You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." Ouch!! Doing ministry and staying true to the teachings of Christ is hard! But I know it's what God wants me to do, so I have to just pray daily for the strength and the resolve to do it. 

I believe our ancestors really understood this concept/conflict, and codified it simply but brilliantly in the words of the old "Negro" spiritual:

Lord, I want to be a Christian in-a my heart, in-a my heart. 

Lord, I want to be more loving...

Lord, I want to be more holy...

I don't want to be like Judas...

Lord, I want to be like Jesus....

They were being taught "Christianity" by the same people who were enslaving and oppressing them, so the scriptures said one thing, but their Christian masters lived something else. So, I believe this song served as both an internal prayer to be personally true to Jesus' teachings, and also a subtle form of protest against the injustice they faced and the inherent contradiction they witnessed every day.

Lord, I want to be a Christian in-a my heart. 

So I echo their sentiment today, centuries later, with the same prayer, for myself, and for all our leaders and teachers: 

In-a my heart! In-a my heart! 

Lord I want to be a Christian in-a my heart!