Issues of the heart

Yesterday I had another echocardiogram. While my heart is not beating properly, I was gratified to see that the beats are nearly even and reasonable slower than I expected. I’ve occasionally said that having a heart that works as it should is not as important as having a pure heart.

God’s people use the term ‘heart’ for more than the physical blood pump in our bodies. Biblically the heart is the center of a person’s thoughts, volition or choices, emotions, and conscience.

It is also the place of sin for those without a saving relationship with God based on faith. No matter how much the people of Israel wanted to obey God, their hearts needed a makeover. They were told:

“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6)

Tozer says obedience is the evidence and definition of our love for Christ. It is also the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I know that doing what God says is impossible without God’s help, yet if the effort is made with a sincere heart, the Holy Spirit comes to my aid and enables me.

Being able to love God with all my heart and soul is the greatest commandment. As usual, God convicts me about the various ways that I disobey Him. One of them is griping about things I don’t like. He says:

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world . . .” (Philippians 2:14–15)

Monday night someone said he wished complaining was not a sin. Another person added that everyone does it. We do. We all fall short. But that is not an excuse. Grumbling reflects an inner attitude. That is, in my heart I doubt that God is in control, sovereign, and forget that the stuff of life is not my enemy but His plan. It also is a blatant statement that I do not love God. I disobey Him every time I complain about anything.

Can I be cheerful about everything? James says I can do better than grumbling:

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4)

The bottom line is Christian maturity. I get there by being steadfast in trials that test my faith. To get 100% on those tests, I must consider them with joy, not with grumbling and complaining.

^^^^^^^^

Jesus, this is a challenging obedience right now. I’ve several things going on that are difficult, at least for me. I cannot see how You can use them to develop steadfast endurance in me. I know that I need the Holy Spirit to do it and that I must be willing to stop whining and start looking at them as You do. They are tools in Your hands to help me become the person You desire. Fill me up — I cannot do this without You.

Trained to change

A well-known singer croons a song with the words, “I did it my way.” Those words remind me of a small child who insists “me do it” when trying to do something impossible with his tiny fingers, or a teenager when confronted about her behavior and declares, “It’s my life . . . .”

Me, myself, and I is my worst problem. God wants me to do His will and that goes contrary to natural inclination. To be clear, the desire to do things the way I want to (in contrast to God’s way) is not as simple as mere preference. God does not concern Himself with whether my walls are green or purple, or I like chocolate better than vanilla. He is looking for a heart that is yielded to His will. We don’t start out that way. Isaiah says . . .

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

Doing it my way can be innocent and about preferences, but when it comes to the will of God, my way is sinful to the core. His will is that I love and obey Him, but sin puts commands like loving Him with all my heart and my neighbor as myself in reverse priority. Sin twists the Golden Rule to expect others to do for me as I want done. Sin is a habit from childhood that is only overcome by the power of God in a regenerated life.

Because of how I understand sin, I don’t understand these words from today’s devotional reading, “Many of us are all right in the main, but there are some domains in which we are slovenly. It is not a question of sin, but of the remnants of the carnal life which are apt to make us slovenly. Slovenliness is an insult to the Holy Ghost. There should be nothing slovenly, whether it be in the way we eat and drink, or in the way we worship God.”

Slovenliness is the failure to do things that I should do. One example: evil exists when "good" people fail to act. This failure is closely related to sloth or laziness, considered one of the seven deadly sins by the early Catholic church. Proverbs 6:6-19 has a different list of the seven worst sins, but the failure to live up to the will of God is always considered a sin in Scripture.

In my understanding, slovenly is about laziness in any area of life. I don’t beat myself up over a messy desk or watching television when I should be weeding the garden, but I have noticed that this attitude carries over into spiritual responsibilities. If insulting the Holy Spirit is not sin, I would not know any other way to describe it.

That said, God is at work to produce steadfastness in me rather than letting me be slovenly. The Greek word for steadfast is: “the power to withstand hardship or stress; especially the inward fortitude necessary.” Like most virtues, God uses the ordinary things of life to teach us fortitude . . .

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4)

Some things are not a big test of faith. For instance, I make quilts. Usually there are no deadlines, but because of my easily distracted mind, there should be. I can start one, get bored, start another, and pile up a host of unfinished projects. Is this slovenly? It must be since God is impressing on me that I should finish what I start, be diligent. Most of us know that if diligent in one area, that same attitude transfers to others. That is, if I can keep my desk clean, I will also be able to do the same with my kitchen, car, and mind.

Jesus also said that he who is faithful in little will be faithful in much. (Luke 16:10-12) If I can be diligent in a little thing, I will be able to grow in diligence for bigger things.

For this growth, God uses trials. They bring out the ability to withstand greater trials. This is so important that James tells us to joyfully face our trials. I know that each trial is a test of faith, so will I trust God in this or will I abandon faith and do it my way? The more I trust God in the little things, the more apt I am to trust Him in the bigger trials.

The point of today’s devotional reading is that God allows no escape in this training. He keeps bringing me back to whatever issue in life that needs change. “It may be a question of impulse . . . mental wool-gathering, or independent individuality” whatever is “not entirely right.”

This doesn’t mean I’m failing as a Christian. It does mean that I need to grow in my faith and never assume any slide into ‘doing it my way’ is a good thing. God will persist until I trust Him totally, so much so that I can say with Jesus, “Not my will, but Thine be done.”

Trials should produce success . . .

1 Samuel 2:22–4:22, James 1:9–18, Psalm 119:17–32

It has taken a long time for me to accept the fact that people fail. Perhaps I’m an idealist, or perhaps it is easier to trust everyone than try to figure out who is not what they seem. Or maybe I just don’t like admitting that I fail too. Whatever the reasons, I know that I’m to love everyone and that love believes and hopes all things. However, it seems not very prudent to bury my head in the sand and expect perfection, especially of myself.

The failures of biblical people make me sad. Eli, the priest, is one of those. His biggest issue is that he failed to discipline his sons, who should have been the next priests. For this, God said to him, “Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?”

Then He declared: “I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever . . . . Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.” (1 Samuel 2:29–32)

After this prophetic word, Israel went to war with the Philistines and Israel was defeated and fled. It was “a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.”  (1 Samuel 4:10–11) When the news was brought to Eli, he fell from where he was sitting, broke his neck, and died. As God said, this priest’s household was destroyed.

God’s Word does not hide the sinfulness of humanity, even the sin of His people. At the same time, He challenges each of us to be faithful, to obey Him even in the tough times:

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” (James 1:12–14)

God asks me to remain steadfast no matter what. He never asks me to do anything that He cannot also give me the wherewithal to do it. I have no excuses. Because of Jesus Christ, I can obey Him. At times, obedience is difficult, sometimes due to distracting trials, sometimes due to other forms of severe temptation, but God is faithful.

The psalmist knew this too, for he wrote: “My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me. I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame! I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!” (Psalm 119:28–32)

Eli and his sons failed. I fail too. Today I pray that the trials of life will not shut me down. Instead, when trials come my hope is that they will be God’s way of enlarging my heart!

Undivided and stable-minded

Attention deficit has been labeled an illness, a mental problem, an issue of socialization, a chemical imbalance, and even the sin of an undisciplined mind. As a person easily distracted, I’ve considered all of these. I’ve even been told, “You are likely a genius and easily bored” and “people with the gift of teaching like yours are interested in everything and often struggle to focus.”

Whatever of these is true (even all of them), I often feel unstable. I can be sincerely praying about a serious issue and in mid-sentence, my mind flips to total trivia. The Holy Spirit can keep me focused, but this is always in a childlike helplessness. He enables me to focus on praising God, yet I still struggle with consistency in any other cerebral endeavors.

On the topic of “No other gods” my devotional booklet points to the problem of being double-minded. While this is not exactly the same as being easily distracted, they do share some elements.

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, he (Jesus) said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? (Matthew 12:24–26)

In context, this is about the attitude of the Pharisees against the healing Jesus did and the power behind that healing. However, it gives another important principle. If my easily turned thoughts are pitted against each other, something has to give. That is, I cannot hold to kingdom principles and at the same time hold to anything worldly or sinful. This kind of double-mindedness creates chaos and confusion. God did not create us to think that way.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5–8)

The principle behind such instability is this: if the flip flops are opposing values such as honesty/deceit, purity/immorality, trust/doubt and so on, then my spiritual life will be unstable. Steadfast faithfulness will be difficult if not impossible, and consistency cannot happen.

Jesus talked about the love of money and said that if “your eye is bad, 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 money.” (Matthew 6:23–24)

This principle is true for the flip flops previous mentioned, but also true for a long list of similar opposing spirit vs. flesh values. Christians will struggle a lifetime with some of these back and forth matters. The best we can do is to stay as long as possible in the faith side of the equation.

However, this isn’t the point of today’s reading. The point is that no one can do both at the same time. As a recent television show illustrated, true multitasking is impossible. The mind flips back and forth because it cannot think of two things at the same time. While some admire those who can do that flip flop with skill, God doesn’t -- at least when it comes to faith and no faith, or pure thoughts and impure thoughts, or love for others and disregard for others. He wants stability of thought and action.

This is so serious that the Bible indicates that those flip flop fleshy thoughts can even be a form of serving Satan. He opposes faith, purity, honesty, and all virtue by encouraging doubt, sin, and lies. If I flip flop between these opposites, then I cannot be stable-minded.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. (1 Corinthians 10:21)

The answer to this battle is always the grace of God and the Word of God. By the power of Jesus Christ, I can put off that old self (which belongs to my old way of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires) and be renewed in the spirit of my mind. By that same power, I can put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22–24)  

Regardless of what is at the root of ADD or any other form of mental instability, Christ is sufficient. He is able to stabilize the most unstable mind because of His amazing grace.