Skip to main content

Hearts

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

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. (Matthew 23:27)

          We all like to see ourselves as pretty good folks. We’re not perfect. We may even admit that we are sinners saved by grace, but we’re not murderers, rapists, or abusers of children, women, or animals. Some of us alternate this view with the conviction that we are miserable, worthless worms who can’t do anything right, but at least we’re not murderers, rapists, or abusers of children, women, or animals. You can add whatever horrible thing that you don’t do to the list. It always proves that we aren’t as bad as we could be.  At the very least, our intentions are good and that has to count for more than our failures. Or, if that doesn’t, then the amount of good we do, no matter how small, must be enough to move us into the Good column.

          And this isn’t a lie we tell solely to others. We tell it to ourselves, and we believe it of ourselves even if we don’t believe it of anyone else, and even if no one else believes it of us! This is why we need Scripture, the Holy Spirit, and other people to whom we are accountable. We also need to learn to be honest with ourselves, and honest with others.

          Years ago, I discovered myself trying to convince others that I am a freak, because it would hurt less to have them reject me when we met than it would be once I got to like them. I introduced myself to coworkers as “The Wicked Witch of the West” for years and was disappointed when they stopped believing me. I’ve worked on this, but let me rephrase what I was doing. I was deciding for people how I knew they’d eventually see me. That means I was showing no respect for them or their right to decide for themselves what they thought of me.

          And lest you think you should tell me how foolish, unfair, etc., I was being - I suspect that you do it - at least sometimes - too.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more