Jar of Hearts

Christina Perri sings a song called "Jar of Hearts."  I like it.

If you care to listen to it, you can find it here.


The thief

The song is good.  But what I like even more–what I cannot get out of my head is the image.  A bloody jar of hearts, makes for a vivid picture on the dusty shelves of my mind.  And like pretty much all of my writings, sermons, ideas, and above knuckle-dragging-level thoughts, an image is the basis for what you are about to read.

Christina is fed up in "Jar of Hearts."  Her person on the other end is selfish, inconsiderate, damaging, and plays some sort of a game; stealing as many hearts as they can get away with.

And who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts

Well Christina is not going to let them get away with it any more.  What Miss Perri is describing is a thief.  A thief takes something from somebody else unfairly, and to the damage of the original owner.  A heart, beating and bloody, or symbolic of "love" and infatuation–doesn't belong to other people.  It is not a play-thing.  And as most 20-something, Romeo and Juliets finally figure out, romantic love, and the feelings of another person must be handled delicately–it's not right to be selfish with another person's stuff; especially the intangibles!  I don't know who this thief of young girls hearts is, but he should stop.

I can't get the image of the jar of hearts out of my mind.  Good.  Seems like the Lord is not letting me off the hook.  There it is again–a big blood-smeared jar of hearts.

I'm not interested in lovey-love-love hearts.  I mean, I am, but not enough to write about it.  I am VERY interested in what lies in the heart of mankind though.  I am interested because there is another heart-thief out there.  He's not James Dean cool; but he's slicker than snot on a door knob.  He's smart, and crafty, and tenacious, the absolute gold-standard of hatred and evil, and he's been at this a lot longer than you.  He will absolutely not stop–he will never stop–until he has stolen your heart for good.  Your heart does not belong to him; but don't tell him that because–he thinks it does.  He won a small victory in the Garden of Eden, and now he walks around chest puffed out, head too big to handle.  He is Satan–and he currently has a great big bloody jar of hearts.

Who does he think he is–runnin' 'round leaving scars...collecting his jar of hearts?  He thinks he's God; and he's all to happy too have you imbibe the same lie.  Stubborn hearts.  Egocentric hearts.  "Spiritual but not Religious" hearts.  Calloused hearts.  Intellectual hearts.  Tolerant hearts.  They all go perfectly nice on his mantle.  He's a well traveled thief, with an eclectic taste for what's not his.  One with a great big bloody jar of hearts.

Another thief

There is another thief.  He is a heart-thief just the same.  Except he is taking back from the nasty little claws of Satan that which already belonged to Him.  He's collecting a jar of hearts, and closing the gaping whole in your chest.  Like a thief in the night He is coming quickly to put the heart-thief away forever.  Taking hearts back, and making them whole, He is filling His jar.  The broken hearted.  The black hearted. The faint hearted.  The heavy hearted.  The strong hearted.  The kind hearted.  It's all a big bloody mess of a jar!  And why shouldn't it be?  He is Jesus–and his jar is big enough for all the big bloody hearts of His creation.

Friends, in the words of Johnny Cash, keep a close watch on that heart of yours.  Your heart belongs to Jesus, and Jesus alone.  Your heart is too valuable to be in the enemies jar.  Your heart is spoken for.  Your heart is not on the market.  Your heart is not single and ready to mingle.  Your heart belongs to Jesus.  Jesus has a good and glorious place for you and your heart.  Your heart is a kingdom heart.

Good for you Christina.  We all have something to learn.  I keep a close watch on this heart of mine.  The evil heart-thief will not get away with it much longer.  Jesus says, "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly"–John 10:10
There is Jesus.  He is coming back.  He is coming with His Kingdom.  He is coming soon.  He is coming with the piece in our chest that has been missing all of our life.  He is coming to put the last piece of us back into place.  He is coming.

And He is coming with a great big bloody jar of hearts