Last night I attended an amazing concert - Chicago Style Jazz, Straight Up.
Five musicians joined their award-winning talent and their love for jazz to soar far above where most musicians have walked.
Over and over they seemed to pull from each other new sounds and rhythms. Their pure joy in the process was contagious
to most all who were watching.
But just as contagious, in my eyes, was a young lady sitting directly
in front of me. I noticed by her posture and movement to the beat that she was enjoying the concert.
But when the musicians would erupt with spontaneous dips and turns, she would burst out with laughter and clap with
delight. She saw and heard little nuances that others around her might have briefly noticed, but not
truly appreciated if her enthusiasm had not pointed them out. It became more and more apparent that she knew and loved
jazz; this was not an outsider's admiration, but a lover's delight.
Have you met Believers like this? They don't stand at a distance and
admire Who God is and what He does; they sit on the edge of their seats in anticipation because they know Him and delight
in His ways. When His wisdom causes circumstances to take sudden, unexpected turns, they clap with excitement.
When He speaks in ways unforeseen, they seem to sink down into the midst of Him and soak it in.
I love being around people like this. It makes me hungry. It makes me
dig deeper. It makes me look harder and run farther. Their delight, their joy, their love and passion are
contagious to any who can receive it.
I think of David and the sons of Korah, writers of most of the psalms. Even
through the valleys of despair and confusion, their urgent cries of love and hope rose up from within, sure of the
One of Whom they sang. No wonder most of us don't go very long without finding ourselves back in this book. Their
words of intimate exaltation draw us up, closer into the Father's lap.
When we see the power of a contagious heart, we can more easily understand the decisive
nature of Jesus' words: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your mind (intellect). This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment." (Mat.
22:37-38) What power flows forth through one who truly knows and loves their God.
You know, we can quote the Word all day to our friends, but nothing will
touch them like our own hunger and love for the Word, Himself. It is not dutiful love which attracts, but love
freely lavished from a heart familiar with the gardens of heaven.
