This week we were reminded of how the world promotes and encourages us to live in complete opposition to how God has said we should. Two examples would be “live your truth” or “follow your heart”. One way we know that these are philosophies God does not agree with is the message He delivered through His son. Christ let us know the requirement of following Him and living within the will of His Father is to deny ourselves daily. We have to be willing to say no to our desires by saying yes to the one we claim is Lord. This is how we become a new creation in Christ. The goal is not to get better but rather to be a whole new person. We cannot change by adding good qualities to a corrupt nature.
This is what reminded us that the condition of our heart is the root of our beliefs, pursuits, desires, and our acceptance of corrupted influences. Christ was not moved by the influences of the world. His whole life on earth was influenced by the Spirit and voice of His Father. So as the head of the body, Christ is not asking us to do something He hasn’t already done Himself. He denied Himself His entire life leaving an example for us by giving it all up on a cross. It wasn’t just His act that was the example, but it was His heart posture and how He truly loved His Father.
This led us toward the reminder that love is the bond of perfection.
God commanded us to love Him with all of our heart, mind, and soul.
Love is a characteristic and commitment to put something ahead of yourself. Therefore, it is out of love that our willingness to follow His command is derived. The reason is, that what we value is what drives our lives and determines what we give our attention to. This is why Jesus said if we love Him we’ll obey His commands. We don’t have to be subject to the influences of this world. If our hearts are set on God, our lives will move in His direction.
If our heart is not loyal to Him, we can become extremely vulnerable and end up moved by anything.
This is why Scripture tells us we must examine ourselves to see if we are truly walking in faith.
This is why the philosophies of the world are so misleading and dangerous. The life we have and the earth we live on was not given or created by us. However, the one who created the earth and gave life expresses that the human heart and human nature are corrupt. That is why the same heart that loves life, if rubbed the wrong way could wish death with the same breath. The human heart is like a cup full of all different types of liquids and if you drink from it, you never really know what you’ll get. So to follow our heart is not a wise saying but is instead ignorant.
The state of our heart is so important because it is exactly what God judges. He says that He does not judge the outward appearance, but He judges the heart and tests the mind. Therefore God’s perspective is completely different from ours. It’s not merely the action we take but the character we have because what’s in our hearts really determines who we are as people.
If we don’t change our perspective, we may view what’s done outside the body as more important. We may not be practicing the act of certain things but if our thought life is impure then that needs to be examined and delivered. Ultimately we need to have a heart transplant. Only God is able to transform the human heart. So if our hearts are in process towards Him then we will begin to see transformation on the outside. Wisdom is to trust God.
Foolishness is to trust our own understanding. When we believe God enough to act on what He says we allow Him to build a track record that establishes a trust and faith that begins to change our hearts. This understanding provides us with the need to be honest with ourselves. We must ask ourselves if are we truly doing what God has asked us to do.
At the end of it all God is a just and fair God and must deal with us all according to our deeds.
Repentance is the start of a commitment to turn our hearts towards God. It is the reset button that is pushed by the realization of a need for God. Faith doesn’t always sound reasonable that’s why satan constantly attempts to sow seeds of doubt in our thoughts and seeds of discontentment by placing worldly desires in our hearts. However, when we receive a new heart we can become a conduit for God’s power, healing, and deliverance. God reveals things so we can make adjustments. When He does, depending on where our hearts are we’ll either reject or accept it. If we set our hearts on God then we will pursue Him fully and what we need for true change can be received.
When we go before God to examine our heart and are shown we have to be willing to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.
We have to make sure our communication with Him is daily so that we can have the necessary wisdom to attain the future He has for us.
When we feel we have reached the end of the rope and feel burdened we can go to God and He will remove that from us if we give it to Him and follow Him.
Scriptures from this week
Luke 9:23
Matthew 22:34
Matthew 6:19
1 Samuel 16:7
Matthew 5:27-28
Proverbs 23:7
Proverbs 27:19
1 Kings 11:1-11
Genesis 6:5
Proverbs 3:5
Proverbs 28:26
Jeremiah 17:9
2 Corinthians 13:5
Ezekiel 18:21-30
Psalms 51:10
Proverbs 4:23
Proverbs 10:8
Jeremiah 29:11
Proverbs 23:15
