Category: Heart

Ready To Go

On By BrianIn Heart1 Comment

Loss, heartaches, sickness, pain, disease, strife, trials, suffering – sometimes I look around and I’m just ready to go.  Ever feel that way?

Paul writes about this desire in II Corinthians 4:16-5:9.  He reminds us that the glory that is to come is so great that our current struggles are only slight in comparison.  That must be some glory!

He goes on to remind us that we will one day have glorified resurrected bodies.  Our current mortal bodies (our outer nature) are wasting away.  In our mortal bodies we groan.  But one day we will have resurrected bodies.  The mortal will be swallowed up by life – bodies that will not waste away, in which we will not groan.

Yet our resurrection awaits Christ’s return, so what about when we die before he returns? We get a clue from the cross.  Before he died, Jesus cries out to his Father – “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”  When Jesus died, his spirit went to be with the Father.  This is confirmed by his words to the thief on the cross next to him – “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  The body of Jesus would be buried, but his spirit would meet the spirit of the thief in paradise – with the Father.

So Paul writes that he wishes to be away from the body so he might be with the Lord.  While death is not good (being a result of sin and the Fall), on the other side of death is the beginning of glory when we will be with the Lord.  Paul is ready to go so he might be with the Lord.

Are we ready to go?  Not just to see the end of trials, but because we long with Paul to be with Jesus?  Are we that excited about Jesus?

Paul concludes by saying it his goal to please the Lord.  Until God calls us home, we should seek to please him, to live for him, to serve him.  Is that our goal in life?

Ready to go, and living for him until he calls us to himself.  May it be so.

Overcoming Idolatry

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry1 Comment

Other gods call us to bow down and worship them, to treasure them before God.  How can we overcome this idolatry?  How can we leave behind empty things and serve God alone?

First, we need to receive a new heart.  Since the Fall, our hearts are given over to evil (Genesis 6:5), and we need to receive new hearts (Ezekiel 36:26-27).  Put another way, we are dead in our sins and need to be made alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5).  Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead that we might have new hearts.  And all we need to do to receive a new heart is trust in Jesus as our Savior.  It come by faith apart from works (Ephesians 2:8-9).  This is the foundation to overcoming idolatry.

Second, we need to continue to look to God.  God gives us a new heart for him, and God will help us overcome idolatry.  Psalm 86:11 is a cry for God to give us undivided hearts.  This needs to be our cry.  We need his help.

Third, we need to identify, guard, and run.  Through Scripture and prayer (Hebrews 4:12 and Psalm 139:23-24), we identify our gods.  Once we know the idols that call our name, we can guard against them – and we must, for our hearts can easily be led astray (Deuteronomy 11:16).  And when the tempation comes – run.  I Corinthians 10:14 tells us to flee.  If an otherwise good thing has become an idol in your life, you may need to just walk away for awhile.  That’s defensive – identify the enemy, guard against it, and retreat.  But we need to go further:

Fourth, renew your mind.  Romans 12:2 tells us not to be conformed to world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  If we think in our minds that an idol is better than God we will serve the idol.  We need to have our thinking changed – what we believe.  This too is a work of God, but we can cooperate with him as we immerse ourselves in his Word, spend time communing with him in prayer, praise him, and participate in godly fellowship that encourages us to treasure God above all else.

When we really believe that God is the best, we will desire him more than anything else, and we will then live for him.  But the world parades false clues leading to false treasures before us, so we must be discerning lest we be conformed to the thinking of the world rather than transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Finally, we must cherish Christ.  This is the goal of mind renewal.  The more we cherish Christ, the more idols will lose their appeal.  As the great hymn reminds us, when we survey what Christ has done for us on the cross, “all the vain things that charm us most” simply lose their appeal.

(For more thoughts on fighting idolatry, see the Three Passions Idolatry page.)

Behind the Curtain

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry1 Comment

In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her three strange companions come before Oz.  They see the lights and the smoke, and they tremble before the great Oz – this god.  Only Toto the dog has enough sense to ignore the show, and pull back the curtain that reveals a mere man.

Behind the smoke and lights, glamor and glitz, of our gods is just a person or thing that God made for us to enjoy but not worship.

Don’t waste your awe on what isn’t awesome.

Don’t waste your worship on what isn’t worthy.

At the cross, another curtain was opened that revealed the one true God.  Go in, fall down, and worship Him.

Empty Things

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry1 Comment

God provides us with many good things.  He showers blessings upon us daily.  Our problem is that we twist his blessings into idols.  We try to make these good things into gods – something God never intended for us to do.  We treasure the gifts before the Giver.  We live for things rather than God.  Yet the gifts God gives us to enjoy make pitiful gods. They are empty.

Samuel warns the people of Israel of this in I Samuel 12:21 – “And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.”

What are some of these empty things that we serve as gods.  Consider just some of the pantheon.  Which ones call your name?

  • Relationships/Family/Friends
  • Wisdom/Knowledge
  • Food
  • Entertainment/Media
  • Control/Power
  • Reputation/Popularity
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Work
  • Material Things
  • Retirement Fund
  • Government
  • Technology/Gadgets
  • Beauty/Fashion
  • Sex
  • Tradition
  • Change
  • Convenience
  • Comfort
  • Shopping
  • Independence

Good things, but empty gods.

In the movie Cool Runnings, the coach of the Jamaican bobsled team tells the captain of the team that gold medals are wonderful things.  But if you aren’t enough without one, you won’t be enough with one.

Wise words.  Gold medals are good, but they can’t satisfy the soul.  The list above are all good things, but they can’t satisfy your soul.  They are empty.

The Scriptures point again and again to the emptiness of other gods.  In Isaiah 44, we find a man who cuts down a tree.  He cuts most of it up for firewood to keep him warm, but some of it he carves into an idol which he bows down to worship. What a fool, we may think.

But then we go to work to make money which we use to buy fuel to keep us warm, and then we add to our retirement fund or savings account which we are trusting in as gods.  Or we use some money for fuel and another part for material things or entertainment or food which we chase after, live for, bow down to as a god.  We too can be fools.

Psalm 135:15-17 tells about other gods – they have mouths but can’t speak, eyes but can’t see, ears that can’t hear.  Why would we trust in these things, live for these things, treat them as gods?

In I Kings 18, Elijah calls the prophets of Baal to a contest.  Each will build an altar to his god, which ever god answers by fire – he is the true God.  The prophets of Baal dance around all morning calling upon Baal to answer with fire.  Nothing happens.  They trust in a god that can’t answer.  They worship a god that can’t satisfy, provide, or help.  Yet there we go again dancing around our own Baals that cannot answer, satisfy, provide, or help.

That afternoon, Elijah prays a simple prayer to his God, and fire falls from heaven engulfing the entire altar.  The people bow down and worship the true God.  Isn’t it time we left behind our empty things and did the same?

What’s in your Wagon?

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry1 Comment

In an old Little House on the Prairie episode, Laura and her friend are fishing in a creek when they see something shiny on the bottom of the creek.  They stop fishing to investigate – and it is gold dust!  They secretively begin to collect the gold dust after school and on the weekends.  They begin to dream of what they might do with their new found riches.

After a few weeks, they have so many bags of gold, that they decide to take it to the bank.  So they fill a small wagon with their treasure and pull the wagon to town.  With excitement they show the banker what they have.  But their smiles soon fade, as the banker shakes his head and tells them it’s not gold.  It is fool’s gold.  It looks like gold, but it is not.  Their treasure isn’t worth anything.  They have wasted hours, days, and weeks collecting something without any value.

What is in your wagon?  What are you spending hours, days, weeks, months, and years of your life on?  What treasure have you given your life too?  When you bring your wagon before God, will he shake his head and tell you your wagon is filled with worthless dust?  Will he tell you that you wasted your life?  Or will he see that your treasure was God, that you gave your life to him?  Will he tell you well done good and faithful servant?

What is in your wagon?

Life is a treasure hunt.  Choose your treasure carefully.

Treasure Hunt

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry

Life is like a treasure hunt.  The big difference is that while a typical treasure hunt has clues that lead to a single treasure, life has many clues that lead to numerous treasures.  We have to decide which clues to follow, which treasures to seek.

Jesus used the picture of a treasure in Matthew 6.  He reminds us not to lay up treasure on earth, but rather to lay up treasure in heaven.  Verse 21 reads: “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

So what is your treasure?  There are lots of clues leading to lots of treasures.  What is your treasure?

The Psalms give us clues to what our treasure should be.  Psalm 63 tells us that God’s love is better than life; that God satisfies.  Psalm 27 tells us to seek God’s face.  In Psalm 73, the writer tells us that he desires nothing in heaven or earth but God.  In Psalm 16, David says that God is his chosen portion.  Out of all the possible treasures life offers, David has chosen God.  These psalms and many more are clues that point to God as the true treasure we should seek.

Is God our treasure?  The quick “Christian” answer of course is God, but is he really?  Do our lives prove that God is our treasure?  Or do our lives point to other competing treasures, other gods that we bow down to and serve?  Is God our treasure, or is it God and ________ (you fill in the blank)?

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  So where is your heart?  Whatever your heart is set on is your treasure.  So consider your heart:

What do you love more than anything else?

What to seek, desire, long for more than anything else?

What to you praise and talk about all of the time?

What do you trust in for security and satisfaction and meaning?

What do you serve no matter the cost?

What determines your words and actions and relationships with people?

Are the answers to these questions – God, or some other things, or maybe God and other things?  Where is your heart?  That is your treasure.

Life is a treasure hunt.  What is your treasure?

Heart of Trust

On By BrianIn Heart, Idolatry2 Comments

Proverb 3:5 is a well known verse – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”  A well known verse, but not so well applied.  Trust God with my family?  Trust God with my job and my finances?  Trust God with my relationships?  Trust God with my health?  Trust God with my country, the economy, the two wars?  Trust God with my trials, sorrows, and struggles?  Trust God with all my life?

Sometimes this is less than easy (an understatement!).  When I don’t understand, it can be hard to trust.  When life doesn’t make sense to me, it can be hard to trust.  In the midst of the struggle, it can be hard to trust.  I cry out, “Why, Lord?”  He answers, “Trust me.”

And God calls me to trust him with all my heart.  My heart is to be completely bent towards trusting him.  Having a heart for God means I will trust him with my life.

Yet other gods call us to trust in them.  I might trust in my job to get me through a bad economy.  I might trust in my savings to make me financially secure.  I might trust in my spouse or a friend to make me happy.  I might trust in the government to solve my problems.  I might trust in the church to save me or help me.  All of these things are good things – unless I turn them into gods, unless I place my trust in them instead of God.

How do I show my trust in God?  We show our trust as we bring our problems to God in prayer (Psalm 62:8).  Prayer is an act of trust.  We trust him as we wait on him to act, even when we want immediate answers (Psalm 27:13-14).

And as we trust in him, he offers us peace (Isaiah 26:3-4).  Peace in the midst of the storm as we keep our gaze on him.

And this trust leads to praise (Psalm 28:7).  As we trust him and he helps us, we have reason to offer up praises to him.

God, pour out your grace upon us today that we might trust you with all our hearts.

Desire for the Temple

On By BrianIn Heart

Psalm 84 records the Psalmist’s desire to be at the temple.  He wants to be where God dwells.  He wants to sing for joy and praise the Lord.  He gets excited at the thought of traveling there.  He would rather be there than anywhere else.  Do we share this desire?

The church is God’s temple today.  Do we desire to be where God dwells – among his people?  Do we desire to gather together to sing for joy and praise our Lord?  Do we get excited at the thought of going to meet with God?  Is there nowhere we would rather be?  Does this desire show on Sunday morning?  During the rest of the week?

Heart for the Church

On By BrianIn Heart1 Comment

After Jesus’ trial, he was scourged with a many-lashed whip containing imbedded pieces of bone and metal.  He was mocked, spit, and struck.  He has a crown of thorns placed on his head.  And then he had spikes driven into his hands and feet, and he hung on a cross.  Why?  Why did he endure all of that?  For me.  For you.  To save people from their sins.  But there is more:

“…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her….” – Ephesians 5:25

He endured the cross because he loved the church.  If he loved the church like that, shouldn’t his followers love his church too?

Some people claim they want to follow Christ but want nothing to do with his church.  How can you follow Christ while rejecting that which he loves?  Some have been hurt by the church; the church isn’t perfect.  Sadly true.  But Jesus loved it anyway and gave his life for it.  If we follow him, we must love the church too and give of ourselves for his church.

Some people are part of a local church, but just go through the motions.  They attend services, but do they ever show love for the church?  Do they love the people – building relationships with them and ministering to them? Do they support the ministries of the church with their time and money and spiritual gifts?  Do they give of themselves for Christ’s church as Jesus did?

Jesus loved his church.  Shouldn’t we?

Human Heart Helpers

On By BrianIn Heart1 Comment

Guard your life lest you fall away from the living God!  That is how I ended my last post.  But Hebrews 3:12-13 makes clear we ought not try to do this alone:

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

How can we guard our lives and keep from falling away?  It comes in Christian community.  We need to encourage and be encouraged in the faith daily.  Sunday services are important as we go to be encouraged in our faith by the preaching and teaching and singing and praying.  But we need DAILY encouragement from God’s people.

Iron sharpens iron.  Could it be that we are too often dull because of a lack of sharpening during the week?  Too often we are like lukewarm coals that come together on Sunday, grow warmer together, and then lose whatever heat we may have gained as we scatter for the week.

Alone there is the danger of developing hard unbelieving hearts that fall astray.  We need each other humans to help our hearts.  How can we make this happen?

In part this daily encouragement can happen in our families (if you have a Christian family) by daily studying the Word together, praying together, and exhorting one another.  Is this characteristic of your family?

In part this daily encouragement can happen through media – Christian music, books, magazines, preaching on the radio, internet, blogs like this one, etc.  What media are you daily ingesting to encourage you in your faith?

But the ultimate answer is that God created the local church for this purpose.  We are to encourage and be encouraged by others in our churches on a daily basis.  Many of us are too busy for this (maybe this is why we are weak?).  We need to visit one another, call, and send notes.  New technology like  e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter give us new opportunities to encourage others in our local church and be encouraged by them during the week.

So what steps can you take this week to encourage others in their faith?  What steps can you take to be encouraged in your faith?  Think family, media, and local church.  Don’t ignore this.  Don’t pass over it.  God may use our encouragement to keep someone from drifting away.  And we need daily encouragement for ourselves to keep from drifting away.

And as we encourage one another, perhaps instead of drifting away, we might have hearts that beat stronger every day for God.  May it be so!