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.