The Heart of the Matter

Got your new year’s resolution(s) wrestled into place?

How’s this for a resolution: Taking inventory of our heart?

Sounds scary doesn’t it. Truth be known we are more comfortable talking about things we can do better, should do, should stop doing, etceteras. Actions and behavior are at the periphery of our lives. But, conversations about our heart? Hmmm. That takes us to the nerve center of our lives. Looking into our hearts is the “heart of the matter.”

Remember these verses?

Proverbs 4:23 – Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”

Jeremiah offers these sobering words, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”

Jesus gave this assessment of human frailty and evil: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”

With a new year before us – and however much of it God’s sovereignty allows us to have – what better resolution could we have than choosing to live everyday cognizant of our spiritual heart’s health?

What would be different about our lives, relationships, and congregations if we could simply do a better job of getting our hearts to a place of strength and maturity? By the same token, in what ways will we continue to trudge through emotional, spiritual and relational congestion by leaving our hearts at the mercy of thoughts, habits and impulses that keep us stuck in a fleshly spirit? We know where these two roads lead….right?

What do we need to take out of our hearts? James says we should get rid of heart clutter (James 1:21). Another inspired writer urges us to “lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily weighs us down” (Hebrews 12:1).

What about filling my heart? We can join Paul’s prayer and ask that God would “fill us with the knowledge of his will through spiritual wisdom and understanding….and that we might put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…and let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts” (Colossians 1:9, 3:12).

And, we can put in a good filtering system! Temptations will come. You can count on it. God provides a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13), but we have to have the wherewithal to look for it. David words should travel with us everyday in 2011: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

O Lord, we confess the truth of David’s words. We ask you to search our hearts and try our spirits. You know us through and through. Bless us with a renewed awareness of the state of our spiritual heart. Fill our hearts with everything good and season our hearts with grace as we meet the challenges of life. May our thoughts, actions and service come from hearts filled with gratitude and awe for your grace, mercy and holiness.

Randy Daugherty
Stephenville, Texas