Heart Checkup

Confession time!  A few weeks ago, I gave a lesson on the heart. Lessons about the heart were easier to give back in my twenties.  Perhaps it’s because I’ve become more aware of my own heart – both its joys and its flaws.  Texts about the heart have taken on a more practical edge for me.   

Here is a sampling of some texts we reflected on.

Proverbs 4:23: “Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the issues of life.”   

Matthew 5:8:  “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” 

Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick.  Who can understand it?’ 

Psalm 19:12:  “Who can discern his errors?” 

Psalm 139:23:  “Search me, O God, and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there is any hurtful way in me.”   

As I thought through these and other texts and talked through them with our congregation, I was again reminded how often and easily I recited them when I was younger.  As the time drew nigh for me to share a lesson about “spiritual heart health”, I thought about how innocent (another confession) my appreciation of these texts had been in earlier years.  Some of that comes with just being young and not yet battle tested.  I also thought about how true it is that as we grow older we become more acquainted with our inclination for sin.  In other words, we learn how volatile and impulsive our hearts can be.  We reach, for example, for Proverbs 4:23 knowing that we live smack in the middle of the reality Jeremiah 17:9 describes.  We encounter thoughts and impulses that can take us into dark places.  Have you ever found yourself struggling with things you never thought would be on your radar?

Someone remarked to me a while back, “I look forward to getting on the other side of forty.”  I said, “What’s on the other side of forty?”  They quipped, “Less of the stuff I’m dealing with on this side of forty.  I just think life will be simpler and easier spiritually when I get on the other side.”  I had to think about that one for a minute.  “Easier…?  Hmmm.”  I remarked, “I think you are in for a surprise.  When you get to the other side of forty, I think you will discover that you are still ‘very human!’”  Sin and its deceitfulness doesn’t stop with “more birthdays”.   Our growth spiritually should certainly see us developing a resistance to some of the things that used to “get at us” at an earlier point in our lives.  But, other spiritual challenges come along that search for new holes in our spirtual armor.  Luke 4:11 says Satan left Jesus after the wilderness temptation experience, lying in wait for another opportunity!

Take David for example.  David does some fantastic things in his life.  He also faces some enormous life challenges.  In his younger years he endures Saul’s antagonism – even his plots to destroy him – refusing to take Saul’s life when he had the opportunity on more than one occasion.  He absorbs the blows on the way to becoming Israel’s next king.  After Saul’s death, he composes a song about him and encourages every Israelite to learn it.  Pretty mature…right? 

But later in life, David leaves Jerusalem as a wounded king to protect the city from civil war at the hands of his son, Absalom.  On the way out of the city, a mean, hateful man named Shimei walks alongside him mocking him, cursing at him and throwing stones his direction (2 Samuel 16:5ff).  A member of David’s entourage wants to “fix the guy’s problem” but David begs him off.  They walk away from the situation and travel on.

Now, fast forward to the end of David’s life.  As he lay upon his death bed (a dying king with a great memory can call attention to a lot of unfinished business!), he calls Solomon’s attention to what Shimei did a “long time ago”.  “Make sure he doesn’t die a natural death”, David says (2 Kings 2:8-9).  And, that’s exactly what happened (2 Kings 2:36-46).

Pre-forty…post-forty…the battles come and go.  They change form, type and degree.  We live in strength in one moment but have to be vigilant for “Shimei” episodes in moments when we are frail.  One thing is certain.  They keep coming.  Paul was right:  “I have not arrived nor have I become perfect” (Philippians 3:12-14).  I think our challenge and calling is to hear the wisdom of Proverbs 4:23 in the awareness of the frailty of our flesh mirrored in David’s cry in Psalm 19:12 knowing that we walk with the One who has passed every test this world could throw at him and who lives to make intercession for us as One who sympathizes with us (Hebrews 7:25; 4:15).  We live in the mix of all of that.  And, in that mix we exercise diligence in matters of the heart.  .

Prayer: O God, save us from both the naiveté and the arrogance that seduce us into becoming less vigilant over our hearts.  As your servant James said so we request that you help us “implant” your word into our hearts so that we might think rightly about our lives and detect the deceitfulness of sin in its many forms.  We know our hearts.  Heal us.  Convict us.  Encourage us.  Restore us.  Equip us.  We need your presence in our hearts.  May the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in your sight…now and always.  Amen.

Randy Daugherty
Stephenville, Texas

A Home for My Heart

As I was contemplating a topic for my article this month, phrases relating to the heart kept surfacing. I found myself or someone else saying things like, “My heart is just not in it”, “It just breaks my heart when----“, “The message was heartfelt”, “…..Oh, that tugs at my heartstrings”, The heart of the matter is ….”, “My heart is so heavy”, “My heart hurts”, and you can probably add others.

According to Webster, our physical heart is the vital organ that by its rhythmic contraction acts as a force pump maintaining the circulation of the blood to the body. It occupies the most important place in the human system. The word ‘heart’ is used over 800 times in the Bible. The heart, in its moral significance in the Old Testament, includes the emotions, the reason and the will, according to W. E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary. The first time we read of a “broken heart” is in Genesis 6:5, 6: “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.”

In the New Testament, it denotes the seat of physical life, the seat of moral nature and spiritual life, the seat of grief, joy, the desires, the affections, the perceptions, the thoughts, the understanding, the reasoning powers, the imagination, conscience, the intentions, purpose, the will, and faith. Is it any wonder we use “heart” phrases so often? They seem to express so much with so little effort.

You have heard the cliche, “Home is where the heart is.” But, what about my church home? Where is my heart when it comes to commitment to a church family? Do I have the same responsibility there as in my physical home? Can I just come and go from one congregation to another without becoming a member of a congregation of people who have identified themselves as Christians? Do I really want to be identified with them? Where is my heart in this matter? Is it possible there is no church family deserving of my fellowship?

Perhaps David has some answers for us. God says, “I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all my will.” Acts 13:22 (NKJV) In Psalm 51:10 David prays, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” And, later in Psalm 139:23-24 we find, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Proverbs 4:23 is well-known: ”Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37) In the book of Philippians, Paul addresses his letter to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi. “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of joy because you have been my partners in spreading the good news about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.” (Philippians 1:3-6) Paul continues in Philippians 2:12, 13, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

The truth of the matter is that we must nurture our hearts to keep them “right with God”.  The overall superiority of Christ and the Christian life is the central theme of Hebrews. It contrasts the Old Testament system of animal and crop sacrifices with a new life in Christ, God’s Son, who died for our sins. “Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house, but only as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. But Christ, the faithful Son, was in charge of the entire household. And we are God’s household, if we keep up our courage and remain confident of our hope in Christ…...Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, as long as it is called “today”, so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.” Hebrews 3:5, 6, 12-14 (NLT)

We, as God’s children, make up the body of Christ. We belong to Christ’s Church. Christ’s home is where my heart is!

Loving, Father, as David prayed, I pray that You create in me a clean heart, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. It is with a grateful heart I come to You, praising You for the privilege of being your child and for the eternal home you have prepared for those who love You and obey Your will. Thank you for Christ’s Church and for the faithful who have shown me the way home. In the precious name of Jesus, Amen.”

Jan Alderfer,

Stephenville, TX

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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