Salvation is about the heart…

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17–20)

Jesus clarified what the prophets before Him kept saying to God’s people. It was not about outwardly keeping the rules — those would pass away — but it was about obedience from the heart. His first example explains:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire." (Matthew 5:21–22)

Once when I was explaining sin and salvation to a small group in a junior church program, a four-year-old girl rolled her beautiful brown eyes and said, “But I’ve never murdered anyone.” 

The excuses of the Pharisees begins young! Being a child of God is not just about what I do not do, but about my heart. When Jesus spoke to these religious people of His day, He explained:

"But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:18–20)

A man-made ritual of hand-washing was supposed to indicate spiritual purity, but the purity God calls for is not about rituals. Anyone can wash this way and claim they are pure, yet the Bible word used is about moral cleanliness without any cover up of real desires. Many leaders tell their congregations not to participate in communion (a ritual of remembering the sacrifice of Christ), if they are not believers or if they have unconfessed sin in their lives. God wants purity even in rituals! 

We sing, “So give us clean hands and give us pure hearts, let us not lift our souls to another,” because if we know Jesus, we know our heart and hands are inseparable. No excuses. No pretense.

Lord, the words of this song and Your words need to be more evident in my life. It is easy to cover sinful thoughts — or is it? Eventually they pollute my living. Clear my head and my heart. May I honor You with every part of who I am — for I belong to You.

 

Matters of the heart . . .

This has been a weird couple of weeks. For a few years, medications have controlled my heart to keep it from going into A-fib, but for reasons unknown, the palpitations started again. I called the local heart clinic and was dismayed that the nurse on the other end of the phone ‘diagnosed’ my situation over the phone. She told me what she thought was needed, a ‘solution’ directed toward a symptom. I complied, but was not surprised that it didn’t work.

A few days later, I dug out our stethoscope. My heart beat was very erratic, an extreme not felt in my pulse. We went to the ER. Fearing blood clots, they wouldn’t do anything so put me on a blood thinner for 3-4 weeks.

From that nurse to the twelve people who saw me in the ER, all information was conflicting and confusing. Today, I looked online for clarity. Sites like the Mayo clinic tell far more than the average medical person will tell a patient. I wanted some answers, but didn’t want to self-diagnose my physical situation. Just as I need the experts for that, I also need God’s expertise to accurately pin-point my spiritual condition. Today they seemed to be crashing into one another.  

Paul had lots of trials, perhaps including some unnamed physical condition. He wrote what God was showing him during those troublesome times. While most people would see these things as something the devil was doing to ruin them, but this man saw his situation as something God was allowing for a very good reason . . .

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:8–11)

His afflictions were manifesting the life of Christ who dwelt in him. This is a witness to the power of God in taking care of His people.

I’m somewhat convicted by this. I became angry at the ‘one size fits all’ diagnosis of the nurse I’d talked to a couple weeks ago. She called again, this time wanting to increase one medication. She wanted my permission to phone the doctor to get authorization. Yikes. The doctor had not seen or talked to me. He had no idea whether this particular irregularity warranted more meds or would go away by itself.

My anger may have been justified. It didn’t seem wise to meekly accept a telephone diagnosis,  yet I’m not sure I was speaking at the Spirit’s leading or in His power.

Chambers emphasizes that Christians are to manifest the life of the Son of God in our daily lives. He says the disagreeable things particularly bring out whether or not we are manifesting His life. I agree. I also believe that even though Jesus was not always meek and mild, I am called to obey Him, even during irritations and the questionable behavior of others.

This time, I’m not sure I was even listening, never mind obeying. My reaction to this nurse did not seem to call attention to Jesus at all, or glorify Him.

Chambers says, “Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is. The thing that ought to make the heart beat is a new way of manifesting the Son of God. It is one thing to choose the disagreeable, and another thing to go into the disagreeable by God’s engineering. If God puts you there, He is amply sufficient.”

His choice of words about making the heart beat in a new way seemed like finger-pointing. It also reminds me of this verse . . .

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)

It is a fact of life that eventually and for whatever reason, the human heart will fail. However, God is my strength. He controls my heartbeat and every breath that I take. No matter what is happening or what trials come my way, I am to keep my “soul fit to manifest the life of the Son of God” and to “let the word of God be always living and active” in me.

With that, I again declared that my heart belongs to Him and He has every right to do with it as He pleases.

Divine Junk Inspector

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23–24)

God already knows everything about me, so why ask Him to search and know me? It is because I need to know me. If God did not show me otherwise, my view of myself would be entirely false.

I think I know who I am and what I want. I have thoughts, dreams, desires that others cannot see, but I know them. Even if I keep these things to myself, it is plain that God knows all about them. 

Yet when I pray that God will search me, He first reveals how well He understands the state of my mind, my spiritual health, and what sort of ways I would behave in any circumstances. He brings me out of my own view by applying tests that let me see myself as He sees me. That is, He answers my prayer by using providential conditions and circumstances to show me parts of my character that I didn’t know even existed. His Spirit also links the situations He puts me in to the responses I have to those situations, revealing what He is trying to do in those situations — showing me who I really am. 

Sometimes I am shocked by what I see, but I should not be. I already know that apart from Jesus, I am a sinful creature, but in pride I tend to think that I will not do or think “grievous” things because I am already on “the way everlasting” toward becoming like Christ. That is true, but sin goes far deeper than I realize.

For example, when I pray to be searched, God may allow me to be severely criticized. Under this test, I might discover that He has developed in me the virtue of meekness. On the other hand, I am more likely to discover that I am quick to defend myself and affirm that I have a right to be angry and it is not my fault that I lost my temper. The test demonstrates whether I have the meekness and gentleness of Christ, or am clinging to my selfish ways and not trusting God to protect or change me.

Other tests could include God arranging that I am treated with neglect. This might even be sinful on the part of others, but it is my reactions that reveal truth about me. He might allow me to be treated with injustice or allow someone to lie to me. How will I respond? Will I be like Jesus? Often not.

Another test that is even more difficult, at least for me, is when God arranges that someone compliments me, puts me on a pedestal or gives me all sorts of attention. Will I respond in pride? Or will I humbly glorify God who is the source of all good things, including all blessings in my life?

My flaw, and the flaw I see in many Christians, is that we fail to make the connection between the events of life and the desire of God to use those events to show us how much we need Jesus. He wants me to see, acknowledge and confess my sinful responses and be cleansed. He wants me to thank Him for showing me my needy heart. Instead, I tend to point the finger at others for “making” me do something I shouldn’t. If not that, my lack of trust in God comes out when I start griping about whatever is not going my way. 

Asking God to search me reveals at least one more important reality — I’ve finally figured out that God has a far better read on how much junk is still in my heart than I do. Yet that does not make His inspection any easier nor does it make me more eager to have it happen.