How's your Heart?

 

“The first and the great work of a Christian is about his heart. Do not be content with seeming to do good in ‘outward acts’ while your heart is bad, and you are a stranger to the greater internal heart duties.” Jonathan Edwards

 A little girl was brought to the ER with a severe cough. But as tykes sometimes do…she talked and talked and talked which made it difficult for the nurse to listen to the sounds in her lung. Finally, the nurse said, “Shhh, I have to see if Barney is in there.” The child looked up and calmly said, “I have JESUS in my heart. BARNEY is on my underwear.” 

  It’s Valentine’s Day. For the last few weeks, hearts of all shapes and sizes have been nearly everywhere reminding us that Valentine’s Day is coming and to remember to buy candy, flowers or a card for that sweetheart. 

  Imagine for a moment though that for Valentine’s Day a husband buys his wife roses and a card. Perhaps he takes her out for an expensive dinner. Yet, though he does all of these things for her, she senses that he doesn’t really love her. She doesn’t have his heart. Would she be pleased? Would it be meaningful to her? I don’t think so. 

  No one did the right things like the Pharisees. According to the Talmud, there were 613 commandments in the Torah and the Pharisees attempted to obey every one of them. Humanly speaking, they did all of the right things. 

  If we’re honest, we’d have to confess that most of us would make great Pharisees. I know that I would. Because it’s so much simpler to do the right thing than it is to be the right kind of person. Yet, God doesn’t want or need us to do anything. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” While it’s true that the Lord wants us to do the right things, but He’s much more concerned about our heart – that we be the right person. 

  Ours is a superficial world where we judge ourselves and others based on actions. Yet, if we prioritize our outer life and neglect our inner life, it will become dark and scary. We won’t know what to do with solitude. We’ll be deeply uncomfortable with self-examination and have an increasingly short attention span for any type of self-reflection. Our lives will lack integrity. 

  When we neglect our hearts, while outwardly we may project confidence, spiritual and emotional health and wholeness, inwardly we’ll be filled with self-doubts, anxieties, self-pity, anger, bitterness and old grudges. Unless we prioritize the inner life, we degenerate quickly into hypocrites. 

  Who are you? Where does your mind wander when you’re not forced to think about anything in particular? What roads do your thoughts tend to wander down? Old hurts, imagined offenses, irritated or feelings of impatience, covetous dreams? Or do your thoughts turn upward and contemplate God, His grace, love and goodness? 

  Perhaps you wish to be perceived as an upbeat, cheerful person. But do you habitually thank God for everything you have and praise Him for who He is? You may talk a great deal about what a “blessing” your faith is and how you really love the Lord, but if you’re prayerless—is that really true? If you aren’t joyful, humble, and faithful in private before God, then what you desire to appear to be on the outside won’t match what you truly are. 

  Giving priority to the inner life doesn’t mean living an individualistic life. It’s certainly not one that’s self-oriented. Scripture is clear though that knowing God can’t be achieved by yourself. Even marriage and our family can lull us into delusion as “we” become the standard of well-being. 

  Community reveals the chinks in our armor. It’s part of why God designed us for community, participation together in worship and smaller groups of believers, as well as private devotion. It’s serving together not as Lone Rangers that helps us grow. It requires studying Scripture together as well as personal, quiet meditation. 

  To be spiritually healthy our inner life with the Lord must have priority. It’s why that before a small group gathering, John Wesley would ask, “How is it with your soul?” That’s a very personal and deep question. Like a skilled surgeon, Wesley dove deep at the very start, cutting to the core issues and setting the tone for those group meetings. 

  Often Christians criticize a secular world for prioritizing symbolism over substance. Yet, when we focus on our persona and public face rather than our hearts, aren’t we guilty of the same? When we’re more concerned with what others think than what God thinks, are we much different? 

  So, what does it mean to be a man or a woman after God’s own heart? It doesn’t mean that you’re sinless. It means that you’re seeking after God, that your heart is open and submissive to Him. It means that when you do sin, you’re quick to confess it and repent. It means that you’re a man or woman of integrity, that you have a whole heart before God. 

  What you do isn’t what matters most to God. He first wants our hearts. Your heart is vital to your worship of God. Your heart is the most important. If you want to please God, you must first focus on your heart, work on your character, focus on the inner man, and spiritual growth as a believer. When the inner life is in sync, then God will use you. 

  Unlike us the Lord doesn’t desire some perfect outward appearance. He desires a mind and heart attitude willing to be used by Him in whatever ways we can in our specific conditions. While “beautiful” people may look at us and think we’re not very remarkable, God sees the inside as well as the outside. If we surrender to conforming to the likeness of Christ – praising Him and giving thanks even when life is incredibly hard, trusting His decisions for our lives, forgiving those who don’t understand our limitations – our spirits are beautiful and pleasing to God. 

  Yet, where does that strength, that heart come from? 1 Samuel 16 ends with, “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord gripped David with power.” It’s those who are not full of themselves, either in arrogance or self-loathing. It’s not those who focus on doing the right things but those who start by being honest, humble, and surrendered who are available to God’s power. If our heart is right, then habit will follow. Focus on what truly matters. How’s your heart?

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

 

 

 

Are You a Little Tipsy?

“My life is a Bible for some folks to see,  

I wonder just what they are reading in me.”

 

One of the Ad Council’s most effective public service commercials is the “Don’t Almost Give” campaign. One ad shows a man with crutches struggling to go up a flight of steps. The narrator says, “This man almost learned to walk at a rehab center that almost got built by people who almost gave money.” After a pause, the narrator continues, “Almost gave. How good is almost giving? About as good as almost walking.” 

  Another ad shows a homeless man curled up in a ball atop a pile of rags. He’s covered with a ratty bed sheet. The narrator begins, “This is Jack Thomas. Today someone almost bought Jack something to eat. Someone almost brought him to a shelter. Someone almost gave him a warm blanket.” Then after a pause the narrator drives his point home, “And Jack Thomas? Well, he almost made it through the night.”

  We know this yet far too easily forget it. It’s not enough to “almost” love for Jesus. As D.L. Moody said, “The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.” Knowing without doing is worthless. Yet, before you can do, you must know.

  A term often thrown around in the Church is “Biblical Worldview.” But what does it mean to have a “Biblical Worldview?” A biblical worldview is essential for having a successful Christian life. A biblical worldview is essential if you want your life to count for eternity. A biblical worldview is essential if you want to truly make a difference.

  As we enter 2021, may we all determine to grow in a biblical worldview. A biblical worldview is like a three-legged stool. Each leg is vital.  

  The first leg is knowing. Knowledge is like med school for a doctor. It demands reading and studying. But in American culture we value doing, not knowing. Knowing must always precede doing or you won’t know what the right thing is to do. God gave us a mind and we’re to use it.

  Christians should be the most voracious readers. We must be committed to study (2 Timothy 2:15). God has given us a written revelation. We must faithfully read His Word. Study demands reading books about the Bible and about God. It means digging deeper. It takes time and discipline.

  Can you imagine having an appointment with your doctor, you describe your symptoms, and he says, “I think it might be…but I’m not sure. I’ve never been much of a reader. I just go with what feels right.” How fast would you run out of his office?

  Think of the top five areas of your life, those areas that consume most of your time and focus. God’s Word speaks to each of them. Yet, if you don’t know God’s Word, if you don’t know how to think through the grid of a biblical worldview, then you will stink at all of them because you’re using man’s wisdom. A biblical worldview means that you must read and study.

  The second leg is talking. Just for a moment stop and think about all that you talked about this past week. Was any of it significant? Yet why is that we’re so uncomfortable talking about matters, well, that really matter? That have true significance?

  A healthy conversation that helps us grow must be a dialogue, not a monologue. The emphasis in our culture is wrongly on sharing what we think, yet failing to listen. And too frequently, we only talk with those who agree with us. But to have a biblical worldview we need to have deep conversations. We must have our assumptions challenged. Reading, studying and thinking should precede talking. Talking then helps us to grow and stretch, especially when our assumptions are challenged.

  The third leg is doing. American culture skips ahead to doing and jumps over reading and talking. Doing is essential. Truth needs work clothes. Yet when we get the order wrong, we do the wrong thing because we simply don’t know what we’re doing. Successful Christians know it takes all three: reading, dialogue and then doing.

  Our culture wants to rush the cycles and shoot from the hip. The outcome is that we become frantic doers and not even sure why we’re doing what we’re doing. All three legs are necessary. Knowing without doing is empty and sterile. Many Christians know what’s right and what they should do. They just never get around to doing it.

  Then, talk by itself is cheap. It takes deeds to validate the talk. But deeds by themselves are ambiguous; it takes words to explain their meaning.

  God, throughout history, has been gracious to provide His people with all three—deeds powerful enough to show He’s not just someone who promises. He’s revealed Himself to us in His Word because He wants us to know Him. His words are clear enough to keep us from misunderstanding what His deeds are all about.

  Recently, I heard about a factory worker who longed to see one of his fellow laborers become a believer in Christ. His witness was to befriend this fellow, to treat him kindly, not just to see him as an object but very much as a person. Theirs became the epitome of a relational witness.

  Some time later, the unbeliever became a believer—but it happened through someone else. Coming back to the factory, he spoke of his new faith to the man who’d been a Christian for many years. “That’s wonderful,” said the first fellow. “I’m a believer too.”

  “You are?” the new Christian said, incredulously. “Did you know that I’ve put off becoming a Christian for months just because of you? To me, you were the very embodiment of someone who could be a good person without Christ. I thought maybe I too could become that good without becoming a Christian.” So much for works without words as a witness.

  As we celebrate our Lord’s incarnation, it’s what He’s called us to be as well…we’re to be incarnational. We’re to be Jesus in our world. You can’t be Jesus without knowledge. Study His ministry. It included talking and doing. A biblical worldview has all three. Determine to make 2021 your year to commit to balancing them out in your life. Read, talk and do!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.