I’ve heard a lot of talk recently about issues relating to our hearts and wanted to address this head-on.
We are born into a war zone, pure and simple. This is the ancient and ongoing war of the ages that has been raging for centuries in the unseen world of the spiritual realm. It began, as we all know, by Lucifer and his angels and has enveloped everything we know, including us. And the prize is our hearts. The entire temptation in Eden, and even the converting of a 1/3 of the angels in heaven, was based on one premise: that God cannot be trusted.
And what does that look like today? Pastors teaching that we are nothing more than sinners saved by grace. Horrible wretches who have no hope whatsoever except in Jesus Christ and that we have no hope of changing for the better this side of heaven. While that sounds like a true statement, we can change for the better and there’s no reason why we can’t.
Does it make any sense that an abusive husband has no choice but to continue being abusive, even after he’s accepted Christ into his heart? What kind of a God would deal anyone that hand of cards and refuse them the chance to better their hand?
The Heart of the Matter
The core of the sinner saved by grace mentality is that our hearts are bad, through and through, and they cannot be trusted or changed. Sure, God can come in and work his healing power and offer sutures for your wounds, but there will never be a lasting change because the heart is bad and will always be bad until Heaven.
I say that this is not only incorrect, but is extremely dangerous. Sure, Jeremiah 17:9 indicates, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Yet Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above everything else, guard your heart. It is where your life comes from. (NIRV)”
Two competing Scriptures with two completely different takes on our hearts. Which one to follow? Here is what Christ had to say about the heart:
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Luke 6:45
Based on the passage from Luke, what we keep in our hearts determines its goodness. This brings up a good point in what I call “spiritual physics.” Evil cannot exist where God is, and thus it follows that when we invite God into our hearts, evil disappears until we reverse the process by sinning. So, yes, we are sinners saved by grace, but we are so much more. To understand how much more, we need to return to the Garden of Eden and man’s original design and purpose. We were meant to be companions and friends of God, sharing with him the joys of nature, of creation, and of deep, open, honest, and vulnerable relationship. This is scary ground for most of us who have known the deep hurts that happen in relationship.
Fighting for the King
If this was our purpose, how did we lose it? Our fallen nature and time, mostly. But let’s look at the “Age of Reason.” The basic premise was to give us the ability to explain the world around us. Prior to this age, there was a mysticism and magic in our understanding of the world and God was used to explain things we could not comprehend. Fast forward to today and our world has no need of God to understand how something works. Just look it up on YouTube or Google. I have a friend who calls this time in history not post-modernism but post-God. It’s sad, but I think he’s right.
And yet, there are deep stirrings in our hearts for something more; that the lives we lead do not satisfy or fulfill. Like we were meant for something greater..and we are. Created as kings and queens, our hearts are born with this noble purpose and we should seek out that which we were created to do. In this ongoing war, we each have a place on the line, a unique purpose that we alone can fill and if we don’t, it’s a significant loss.
I believe that God created me with a good heart, and that I am to be a mighty oak that my friends and family can seek shelter beneath when they need it. I believe I am a full brother of Jesus Christ and that by that very relationship, I am not just a sinner saved by grace but a son of God who has a purpose and a significant place in the war between heaven and hell and I fully intend to take my place on the line, fighting for my King.
Will you take your place on the line?
[Image via 190780 via Compfight cc & Vicburton via Compfight cc]
Speak your mind...