The Heart

I want to talk about the heart today.  Ravi Zacharias told a story about Richard Muggeridge that truly strikes at the heart of this problem, no pun intended, which I will tell you about later in this Tidbit.  This is some of what the Bible says about the heart in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?”

Question: Do you think man is inherently good?  What did Jesus say about this in the Word of God? Read Matthew 19:16, “And behold, one came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?”

If you were to talk to this man and hear his answer today you would probably think that he was a very good man, but Jesus knew his heart, Jesus knew that this man loved his money more than he loved God.  In other words, he had an idol that he served and that was his money and he wasn’t willing to give it up for anyone, not even God.

Read what Jesus said about this in Matthew 6:19-24, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

We live in a very materialistic world where people are buying and collecting things and many of them will never be used.  I know this first hand and it has taken me a long time to realize it.  I think garage sales were one of my biggest downfalls.  Thank the Lord for helping me with this problem.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying they are bad but they can be addicting because you can get things real cheap at times and when you really need something they are a very good source to find most anything you might need.  But in my case, and I don’t think that I am alone in this, things were so cheap I couldn’t walk away from them whether I needed them or not, so many of the things that I bought just hung around in storage for long periods of time.  How do I know that I wasn’t alone?  Because going to garage sales as long as I did, I saw many things people were selling and no one needs some of the things I saw in the amounts I saw them and some of the things were brand new, never used.     

The man in the story thought that he had kept all the commandments that Jesus had spoken about, so he might have thought he had it made, but what he didn’t realize is that He had broken the first and second commandments. How?  First, by loving money more than God and the second by not caring for his neighbor, because he wouldn’t sell all he had and give to the poor and then follow Jesus.

What does the Bible say about loving money?  Read what it says in 1 Timothy 6:6-10, “There is great gain in godliness with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs.”   

Do unbelievers do good things?  Of course they do, and many of them think they will get to heaven by their good works, but they can’t because that doesn’t make them good in God’s eyes.  Read what it says in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.”

Their problem is a heart problem and until the Lord gives you a clean heart like David said and God renews a right spirit within you through the forgiveness of your sins, you are God’s enemy.  The Bible teaches that all have sinned, all of us have fallen short of the glory of God, and there is none righteous, no not one. 

But God made a way that all could be made right with Him.  Please read John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”  

If you want to stand before God righteous, then you will have to be covered by His righteousness which can only be done through a new birth experience called being born-again.  If you want this relationship believe on the Lord and ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins because you are sorry for sinning against Him and then ask Him to come into your heart and to be your Lord and Savior.  And don’t be in a hurry, let Him fill you with His peace, love and joy, then you can shout Halleluiah, praise the Lord.  Then start growing in your faith.  He will take that stony heart and make it a heart of flesh and you will become a new creation in Him!!  Something to think about and have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!