Prilosec advertises that you can’t beat zero heartburn. Well, maybe they are wrong. There is heartburn and then there is heartburn. It’s true you don’t want the heartburn they are talking about but don’t forget Luke 24:32. “They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’” This was Cleopas speaking about their journey with Jesus on resurrection Sunday afternoon. He and his companion (wife perhaps) were two of the most blessed people ever. They spent hours with Jesus on that incredible day. The best way they could describe their feelings were the words “our heart burning within us.”
Prilosec tells us we need one pill each morning for 24 hour relief from the bad kind of heartburn. So I am thinking we need one experience with Jesus (via devotions) each morning to promote and further the abundant life He promised to us. If we do this, sometimes we will read something so wonderful or be drawn close by the presence of the Holy Spirit that we will have good heartburn that will last all day.
We can beat zero heartburn by having a good case of good heartburn. It is a grand experience. Surely knowing Jesus and having the assurance of salvation will more than warm the stoniest of hearts. Reading the promises and knowing they are for real is very exciting. Recently someone told me we need to be excited for Jesus. I don’t think we can turn on excitement by deciding to be excited. Excitement is the fruit of realizing something wonderful has occurred. Heartburn is the same. The bad kind is the fruit of things gone wrong. The good kind is the fruit of things gone very right.
Written by Roger Bothwell on March 31. 2016
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