Your Heart as Breeding Ground

I want to share something that I saw in a movie recently.  Ever heard of a symbiote?  Without going into deep biological explanations… it is simply an organism, that cannot survive on it’s own.  It has to find a host in order to survive.  This host, in many cases, are then taken over by this symbiote.

Having said that.  Our hearts are breeding grounds.  Proverbs states it like this:

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.  -Proverbs 4:23

Previously I wrote on anger and where it comes from.  That your heart is where it starts.  Yes, anger is an emotion driven by hormones, but your reaction towards that is whatever is in your heart.  Anger is but one example.  There are so many.  The point being, that your heart is a breeding ground for whatever you allow to grow on it.  Whatever you cultivate within your heart is what will take you over.

If this is the Spirit, then great.  But if this is pride, hate, selfishness, envy, jealousy or anything else that is not of God, you will eventually become whatever you play host to.  By drawing parallels between God and a symbiote, I am not trying to say that God cannot survive without a host… I am merely trying to explain a concept about what you allow to grow within you.  Therefore, guard your heart, and make sure that you are the host to only God and His Spirit.

Unjust anger

We all get angry, and that is a reaction we see as normal.  But is it really?  I have been made aware by so many people, in my lifetime, that it is ok to get angry.  The problem with this statement is we take it to heart, and then abuse and misuse it.  All of a sudden it is ok if I get angry at another driver in traffic, or if I get angry at the person working too slow to my taste behind the till.

I hope you see that it very quickly becomes a very selfish emotion that we throw around.  We use this emotion as an excuse to act out towards people that we feel are not behaving or reacting the way we want them to.  Hard, isn’t it?  So now the general way of arguing this case is that people use the scripture where Jesus tipped over the tables in the temple and even, used a whip to chase people out.

The problem with this, is the motive.  Like all things in life, it is not really about the action but about the motive behind the action.  Jesus was angered about injustice.  About the abuse of the temple and the misuse of it.  He was not angry about the way someone reacted in traffic or about marks that he didn’t get in a test but believed he earned.

26“In your anger do not sin”^d : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold.  -Ephesians 4:26-27

Listen to that!  Do not give the Devil a foothold.  We tend to get angry over impure motives and this, is only opening up the door for devastion, hate, envy and is mostly driven by pride.  Being angered about the right stuff is great, but getting angry without just cause is simply missing the Character of Christ.  Guard your hearts.

Holiness form within, not from without

It is always a battle, isn’t it?  We are always batting to be who God wants us to be, or at least who we think God wants us to be.  We are constantly trying to be a follower of Jesus, trying to do God’s will and trying to be the good Christian that we are expected to be.

Maybe you aren’t moved much by what people say or think.  Even then, we still struggle with trying to please God.  Living a life that will build my relationship with God and not break it down.  I realised that we are so busy trying to be Christians that we miss the concept op righteousness and being holy, completely.

We work hard in order to live and act holy, yet this was never what God asked of any of us.  Let’s first look at what it really means to be righteous or holy.  I am going to run through this real quick; 

Firstly, to be righteous means to be in right standing with God.  We all know that, that is why we try silly things or keep from other things in order to be “pure” and “holy” before God.  We know that without this righteousness there is no way we can enter God’s presence let alone have an intimate relationship with God.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  -2 Corinthians 5:21

So, Jesus died so that we can be righteous.  Now I know you all have heard this before, but bear with me here for a moment.  This righteousness was something that could only have been obtained by a price.  Jesus paid that price on the cross.  It cost God’s life in order so that we can be righteous.  So how do we obtain this valuable item that God purchased?

This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,  -Romans 3:22

Through faith in Jesus.  That is it.  It is as simple as that.  We have been made righteous by only believing in God and believing in the price that Jesus paid on the cross.  What’s more…

1Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.  -Romans 5:1-2

We are in full right standing with God and we are already holy.  Now here is the part I want to get to.  Your actions cannot make you holy or unholy.  Before you start arguing, hear me out.  The Pharisees nails Jesus on the fact that His disciples does not wash their hands before they eat.  In the Jewish culture of that time, eating without washing your hands, made you unholy.  You know what Jesus answered them?

10Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”  -Matthew 5:10-11

As shock as that sounds, it doesn’t end with food.  See, righteousness and holiness comes from within.  It is a gift from God once we believe in the Jesus and the price He paid.  Once we are holy, whether we smoke or don’t smoke.  Whether you do or do not do something, is not what increases or decreases your holiness or righteousness.  You, being holy and righteous is a fixed entity since God paid the price and not you or me. 

I am not saying that since we are saved we can go off gallivanting and do whatever we want.  See, this is where the Spirit within us starts to lead us and take over.  So, my statement is basically this.  We do not act holy so that we can be holy.  If this is your strategy you will definitely fail since you are now trying to work for something God already gave you by grace.  We act holy because of what is within us, and this means that acting Holy is no longer a struggle but it comes as second nature.

Kept Promises

Ever heard about the stroy of Elisha, and the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4:8-37?  Elisha stayed in her town regularly and so she prepared a room for him and hosted him whenever he was in town.  So the story goes that Elisha wanted to return a favour for her hospitality.  He ashed her what he could do for her and she asked for a child.  Her husband and herself have been unable to have children.  Elisha then prophecied that the next time he would be in town, she would have a son.

It was as Elisha prophecied.  The problem came when the child was a bit older, fell ill and died.  The woman assured her husband that all will be well and traveled to Elisha immediately.  She refused to take his offer of letting his servant visit her house with his staff.  Instead, she requested that Elisha himself visit her home and pray for her son.  He did and so the boy came to life.

God gave this woman a promise.  Then fullfilled it.  It had to be crushing when this promise died on her.  Imagine how she must have felt.  But, she never lost hope.  She knew that when God made a promise, the world will not take it away.

How many times have you recieved a promise from God and then, when all things lit up, it seamed asif the world is going to take it all from you?  Hold on to that promise!   God is so much bigger than our broken world.  Hold on and do not lose faith!  God is always faithfull.

Broken Down Walls

Ever struggled with walls and chains that just did not want to budge or break?  We all have.  Then God comes onto the scene and sets us free, break down the walls and a new life begins.  Change, however, is not easy in any man’s vocabulary.  It is hard and often times quite uncomfortable.  Sometimes we look back and miss certain aspects of our old life or how things used to be, and so we make the biggest mistake possible and head back to where we were.

I know that at this moment you probably read the paragraph above, and thought to yourself; never!  “There is no way I would ever do something this dumb.”  Fact of the matter is that this might be a lot simpler than we realise.  Take the character if Hiel for instance.  We read that during the time of King Ahab, this man started rebuilding the walls of Jericho.  If this sounds a little off to you as well, then you also realised what I realised while reading this passage in 1 Kings. 

34In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua son of Nun. -1 Kings 16:34

Now this might have been a noble act originally.  When we see the rebuilt city as an economic move ahead or it might even be strategic for warfare with the enemy.  All things considered, this might have been a great advancement for the kingdom.  However, there is a catch.  Have you noted in what way this happened as well?  This man buried his firstborn beneath the foundations of this restoration.  This was strange in the sense that it was a pagan practice.  In order to receive favour from the gods, firstborns were used to lay the foundations of a new building or city.  Clearly this was not a Godly act.  

26At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:
“At the cost of his firstborn son
he will lay its foundations;
at the cost of his youngest
he will set up its gates  -Joshua 6:26

This is shocking.  Joshua clearly made it known that to rebuilt this city that God destroyed in favour of His people, will in no way be an act inspired by Him but an act inspired by evil.  It is not our place to rebuilt what God broke down for us.  Do not go back to the cage that God broke you out of.  Put that in the past and let it go.  The good news is. and I'll leave you with this, is that God is overflowing with grace...

8The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust. -Psalm 103:8-14

Guilt Born of Fear

Fear.  This is something we all know too well.  But I am not on the topic of fear for heights, or the dark, or even spiders or a small enclosed space today.  I am on the topic of fear of God.  Also, not the fear that we can also translate with being in awe, but rather fear, that is driven by our conscience. 

We all have a past.  Usually, it is not something we are proud of and would like to change it or redo it if we had a chance.  Maybe it is a very recent past.  Let’s bring it closer to home; how has your day been?  Have you miss stepped during this day?  Was there a moment in this day where you dishonoured God or did what you knew was not according to the will of God.  Have you sinned today?

Whatever the case may be, it is easy to start feeling guilty over something.  Now we know that God is almighty.  That God is all powerful.  That God is all knowing.  God is the creator of everything we see.  The only holy and truly righteous being we know.  God is the King over all.  Yet, thanks to Christ, we now have an audience with God.  This God.

It is normal to start feeling uncomfortable at this point.  How can we, as sinner and flawed people, be in the presence of this Almighty King?  We have sinned and fell short of our calling.  The problem is, this guilt separates us and holds us back from enjoying God’s presence.  We choose to not commune with our source of life because we feel guilty.  This guilt; is rooted in a fear of punishment. 

1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you^a free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^b God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.^c And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. -Romans 8:1-4

We are assured that there is no more condemnation for us once we are in Christ Jesus.  Life through the Spirit is what makes this pardoning possible.

 17This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  -1 John 4:17-18

We have been given this love.  The love which hung on a cross for all of our sins and trespasses.  We can now take up this love and lay down the misguided fear of being punished.  We do not have to be feel guilty but can step boldly to the Throne of God and enjoy God’s presence.

It is up to you, to make this forgiving love your own and not to trip over your own conscience.

Adopting a New Reality

Allow me to share a personal experience with you.  Yesterday I took a day off.  I mostly filled it with catching up on sleep and watching movies and especially series.  The series I watched was about a time on earth after a nuclear war.  I spent hours watching episodes back to back, always curious about what is happening next and truly living into what I saw.  At the end of my day, everything felt so surreal.  It felt like I needed to convince myself of the reality of the birds and the trees outside.

At this stage in the day it was already after sunset and quite late at night so the darkness around me even gave it a bigger effect.  At this point I realised something; I was so busy the entire day living into these episodes and the situations that these characters had to deal with, that for a moment in time, their reality became mine.

So, why can’t God’s reality be ours.  If we spend all our time or most of our time in a day, focused on what the world says and the situations you find yourself in… things might start to look pretty gloomy.  The world we live in is a rat race for time and money.  If this is all there is to life then we might as well end it now. 

Spending time with God, and spending all of our time with God, is what will make our reality shift from our limited one, to His eternal and true reality.  This is where we need to be.  God needs to be our only reality.