What Proceeds From The Heart - Proverbs 4:23

 

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. - Proverbs 4:23

Scripture tells us many things about the human heart, both good and bad. But it’s the neutral comments that seem to speak loudest. Our title passage is one that does so. We are told to be vigilant with our hearts. We must be careful what we allow into it, but most important, we need to control what comes out of it in our thoughts, words, and deeds.

Our hearts were given to us to hold our emotions; our brains were given to us to hold our emotions in check. A quick perusal of mankind’s history assures us that all emotions are not necessarily designed for our benefit. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” - Jeremiah 17:9.

Our hearts often define us. Our mannerisms, our joys, our concerns, our values, our morals depict to others what we hold in our hearts. We can be humanists at heart, believing in the infallibility of mankind, his imaginations, and his ability to make things right, or our hearts can display our desires for a Godly life under God’s own terms. Biblical counselor, Jeff Forrey, has said, “Both ways of describing the heart’s role presupposes some kind of relationship with God, whether it is intimate or distant.” He says that the heart influences our thinking patterns, our behavior patterns, and our feeling patterns. Truer words have never been spoken.

So how can we direct our hearts to achieve the best likely outcome of thought, word, and deed. Jesus had very specific directions when it came to our hearts. “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” - Matthew 22:37-39. When we read this command from Christ, we must be careful to note that while we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, it is secondary to the supreme command that we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind! God and His ways come first. And in perfect honesty, we cannot possibly love our neighbors the way we should unless we first love God.

Once we give to God what is God’s. Our emotional life should come into focus so that we can see the overblown sentimentality that so often parades as brotherly love in this day and age. If we’re not as passionate in our defense of our love for God as we are for the impoverished or oppressed, then we are merely virtue signaling and hoping that people see us as having the moral high ground, which is impossible. It is impossible because man can not shape his thoughts, words, and deeds, let alone his feelings, based upon the shifting morality of humanist beliefs, which change with each succeeding generation and within each individual culture. Human based morality often changes by the hour.

True, Godly morality is unchanging because God is unchanging. “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.” - Psalm 33:11. Therefore, we wage war with God. His statutes are unchanging and they truly are ‘written in stone.’ They don’t change with next passing wind. They don’t change like the weather. They don’t change like our tastes do. They are here with us forever. And what of those who deny these truths? God made it clear many, many years ago. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” - Proverbs 19:21.

We can resist, reject, and refuse the Word of God if we so choose. But we can never thwart it.

Are we in a constant battle with ourselves and others? Are our emotions literally hijacking our thoughts, words, and deeds - our very lives? As long as we remain recalcitrant toward God and His very specific plan for our lives, we will remain unhappy, unfulfilled, and incomplete. If we cannot guard our heart, we will muddy the springs of life that flow from it. We must seek intimacy with God Almighty and close the distance between ourselves and God’s designs for us if we are ever to be truly in line with our emotion-driven thoughts, words, and deeds. Only God’s Word has the power to clear the water.

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room - Psalm 139:23-24

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! - Psalm 139:23-24

    The song ‘Joy To the World,’ expresses our duty to the newborn Savior in no uncertain terms: let every heart prepare Him room. It’s quite easy to see what we are to do in preparing for Christ. We should be about the business of cleaning up our hearts as we would clean up a room for someone we love.
    It begins with gratitude to God for choosing us from the beginning. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” - Ephesians 1:3-4. The very least we can do is to ready our hearts for the Savior’s arrival not just on Christmas day, but every day.
    Many of us will say that our hearts are truly ready for Jesus to enter, but are they? Think about the last twenty-four hours. Have we had evil or selfish thoughts? Have we been self-indulgent? Have we exhibited worldly pride in our attitudes and actions? Have we been unloving to our neighbors and even to members of our own families? Have we been unthankful or expressed self-entitled attitudes to those around us? The detrimental effects of our sinful thoughts, words, and deeds are ever present when we refuse to take stock and repent of such evil inclinations. As I said before, we need to clean our hearts up and ‘prepare Him room,’not just on Christmas day but every day! “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” - Psalm 51:10.
    What should we be seeking if we truly want to display our love of God and fellow man? We should seek a change of heart and mind; only then will our souls progress in the right direction. Only then will we be living the life God has designed for us. “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” - 2 Timothy 2:22-23. This is God’s plan for us.
    And pray! We should pray for those less fortunate than ourselves, in both the spiritual and the material sense. While there will always be those with less than we have, there will always those who have more than we do. It is for these individuals and ourselves that we should be praying. Wealth and worldly possessions only bind us to the world, the flesh, and the devil. Pray that we might repent of our ungodly ways and that we will seek the Lord when and where He may be found. “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” - Isaiah 55:6-7.
    This is what it means to ‘let every heart prepare Him room.’ As we celebrate Christmas Day, let us all take stock of our inner thoughts, words, and deeds. By the Holy Spirit of God, let us get ourselves in order that He may bless us to say, “Yes, yes! There is room at the inn.” Let us welcome Him into hearts prepared for our King. Today, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is born! Prepare Him room.

Merry Christmas

For A Limited Time Only - Luke 13:22-24

Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. - Luke 13:22-24

    How often have we seen an advertisement that said in big bold letters, “For A limited Time Only!” The ad elicits a quick and certain response from us. We are to drop what we’re doing at the moment and run down to see the great deal. Be it a car, a TV set, stereo, or even a great price on a T-bone steak, we stop what we’re doing and go see if we too can share in the limited-time offer. Or, we may simply ignore it and if we wait long enough, the offer will usually come around again in a few months.
    The big deal is always a tangible commodity and is subject to the possibility of breaking down, spoiling, or being stolen from us. By now, we should know that this is the way of the world. In worldly issues, we can afford to wait, but what of spiritual issues? “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal-” - Matthew 6:19.
    There is, however, a spiritual offer that we should not ignore. This offer should prompt us to stop everything else in our lives and respond immediately, as it truly is for a limited time only. It will not come around again after we have passed from this world.
     The time limit is easily discernible: it is limited to our life-time. Once we are gone, the offer no longer stands. We may choose to wait until we are on our death-beds to accept the offer, assuming, of course, that we know the time and the place of our passing. The atheist, George Carlin, once alluded to a ‘two-minute warning’ before death. But we neither know the day nor the hour. Mind you, as far as I know, Carlin never got his two-minute warning and died an atheist.
    “Well, maybe non-believers go to another wonderful eternity,” they say. The world seems to believe that there are many roads to salvation. The world is wrong. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” - John 14:6. We can never lose the gift of great value Jesus provides for us. Christ’s most valuable offer comes to us at a great cost, a cost that we could never have paid with any worldly currency. No good work, no prayer to the universe, and no humanitarian or patriotic deed will cover the cost that only Christ’s precious blood does. Jesus has paid the price of our eternal salvation. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 6:23.
    This offer of salvation is good for the lifetime of the man and woman for whom it was paid. For the lifetime, but not a moment longer! To continue to ignore or put off God’s eternal design for mankind is to flirt with eternal damnation, guaranteed damnation. “Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” - Hebrews 3:10-11.
    Christ will not be sacrificed again for the fickleness and indecisiveness of man. Therefore, we are highly advised to accept the salvation that has been bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. “For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” - 2 Corinthians 6:2.
    Yes, the offer of eternal salvation truly is for a limited time only. The time is running out fast for the many who have not accepted Christ’s offer, Let it come as no surprise to those who ignored the offer - “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” - John 5:28-29.

 

MST & Sweet Imagination - 2 Timothy 4:3-4

 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. - 2 Timothy 4:3-4

    There is currently a form of pseudo-faith that has been referred to as Moral Deistic Theology or MDT. It is in no way Christian regardless of the delusional position held by such cultists. The five main tenets of MDT are as follows:
   1)  Belief in a God who remains distant from people's lives.
   2)  People are supposed to be good to each other (i.e., moral)
   3)  The universal purpose of life is being happy and feeling good about oneself.
   4)  There are no absolute moral truths.
   5)  God allows “good people” into Heaven.
    Let me refute these lies one by one -
    1) God is not distant - “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.” - Psalm 139:1-2.
    2) It is God’s intention that we treat others as we treat ourselves - “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” - Matthew 7:12.
    3) Our purpose in life is to glorify God - “I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart and I will glorify your name forever.” - Psalm 86:12.
    4) There is absolute truth - “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” - Psalm 119:160.
    5) There are no ‘good’ people - “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” - Romans 3:10-11. God only allows those who have faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, into heaven.
    In this diabolic contortion of faith, the entire focus on God has been skewed by Satan himself. The Bible is clear about who God is and how we are to see Him - “You shall have no other gods before me.” - Exodus 20:3.
    God foresaw the nature of sinful man and his desire to find a god who met our expectations. The entire idea is ridiculous! It is so absurd that I don’t think the acronym MDT does the foolishness justice. It should be referred to as MST for Maudlin Sentimental Theology: a theology that has as both its origin and manifestation in syrupy sweet imagination, rather that the doctrinal truths of our Biblical God. It’s major fallacy is rooted in the erroneous belief of universal salvation by a ‘god’ who could never send anyone to hell, regardless of their sinfulness. It believes that God will judge and grade us all on a ‘curve,’ as though none of us are accountable or responsible for our thoughts, words, and deeds. This is the antithesis of what the Bible tells us. “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” - Revelation 20:12.
    God will not only judge the living and the dead, He has declared what He will do with them - “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.” - Romans 2:6-8.
    These are the plans of the one true God. There will be anger and wrath; there will not be a sliding scale that He uses to judge us. As seekers of the one true God we must keep in the forefront of our hearts and minds that we can no more mold or design God than we can realistically expect our own self-image to be what others see when they look at us.
    What God expects of us has been made clear - “You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God.” - Leviticus 18:4. There is no room for invention, design, imagination, or fantasy, God doesn’t use smoke and mirrors - “Everything God says is true— and it’s a shield for all who come to him for safety. Don’t change what God has said! He will correct you and show that you are a liar.” - Proverbs 30:5-6.
    As sinful men and women, we would all love to envision a god who is ever-loving and ever-forgiving, a god who approves of our sins. No such god exists, and to even suggest such a thing is spiritually poisonous, regardless how the devil sweetens our imaginations.

Deeply Disappointed - Matthew 10:34-3

 

 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.” - Matthew 10:34-36


    Often, in our lives, we experience deep disappointment in our loved ones. It may come as a result of criminal activity, drug or alcohol abuse, questionable associations, or life-style sins. It is their unacceptable behavior that cleaves a family in two. While hurting us usually isn’t their primary motivation, their poor choices inevitably wound and torment us. As they spiral down the road to perdition, their objectionable conduct pains and often outrages us. These occasions are difficult within the Christian family when the prodigal member seems willing to do anything to gain and preserve their autonomy. “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death.” - Matthew 10:21. While our children, in this case, would hopefully not actively seek our physical deaths, they don’t care how badly they can hurt us emotionally and spiritually by their choices in this life. In these cases, ‘unacceptable choices’ are defined as any behavior that directly ignores or deliberately transgresses our wants and wishes as determined by God’s will. AS DETERMINED BY GOD'S WILL!
    What makes the whole sordid disruption in our lives so utterly painful is that despite their heinous decisions, we still love them. Therefore, the experience is soul wrenching for us. We still see our children as infants and toddlers that we loved with all our hearts; despite their failings, they will always be our children. When sibling relationships go wrong, we recall the bonds of brotherly and sisterly love we had growing up; despite our differences, they are still our siblings. When it is a parent who slips from their child’s pedestal, we yearn for the mother or father we recall from our childhood who nurtured us and protected us; despite their failings, they are still our parents. The tribulation can is agonizing for all involved. The disjunct between such people and God’s will is obvious to all, including themselves. They cannot claim ignorance. It is willful disregard for both their families and God. “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” - 2 Timothy 3:2-4.
    So what are the bereaved family members supposed to do? First, we must always seek to reconcile with the prodigal family member. We must approach the situation with love and a determination to set things aright in a godly manner, with care, understanding, and grace. “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” - Proverbs 15:1.
    Second, if the offending family member seeks forgiveness, we are duty bound to forgive them, remembering that we are all sinners in the eyes of God. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” - Romans 3:23.
    Third, we should be patient with them. It is rare that a person ‘goes bad’ in a single day and just as rare for one to turn back in a single day. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:9.
    Finally, we must be prepared to accept the possibility that the errant family member just will not return to the fold. Therefore, Jesus said, “... a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.” We don’t stop loving them. We don’t stop praying for them. And unless they prove to be a physical danger to us or to others, we don’t lock them out of our lives.
    God’s Word instructs both children and parents in the way of righteousness - “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise),’ that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” - Ephesians 6:1-4.
    It is only through mutual respect and honor that godly families show the unbelieving world what such love looks like. But God must be front and center in all our lives.

Syncretism’s Sin - Deuteronomy 12:32

  
“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” - Deuteronomy 12:32

    Many nominal Christians today (and for the past two-thousand years) have made it their habit to compartmentalize their faith. This is nothing new to the faith. In the blessing of wisdom given to Solomon, even he recognized this fact nearly three-thousand years ago. “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” - Ecclesiastes 1:9.
    The greatest problem Christians face when they surrender only a portion of their lives to God is that we find ourselves constantly seeking extra-biblical (aside from the Bible) ways to strengthen His providence by our own human accouterments. And this has been expressly forbidden by the Word of God. “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” - 2 John 1:10-11.
    The sin being committed by this arbitrary adding to or subtracting from Holy Scripture is called ‘syncretism,’ the merging or assimilation of errant mythologies with true Christian faith. This sin creates a false narrative wherever it is found and practiced. There is no circumstance or occurrence of syncretism in the Christian faith that does not deliberately alter the true and verifiable Word of God, not one!  The Word of God is eternal and unchangeable - “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.” 2 Peter 1:19-20. We are bound by the Word of God, not our own unbiblical interpretation of it.
    We must acknowledge that such meanderings from God’s truth are nothing but the machinations of Satan, who rules this world with confusion. His object is to sow doubt among believers as well as among the unbelieving. The devil will never miss an opportunity to capitalize on the doubts of men. It is one of his greatest strengths. “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” - 2 Corinthians 11:3-4.
    Syncretism has been and remains one of the greatest threats to our faith. It is rooted in satanic corruption and poisons anyone who finds an unbiblical appeal in it. It is nothing but a human attempt to circumvent, alter, or strengthen our sovereign God’s works of providence. Within its demonic proclivities, men of the same sinful thoughts huddle together in darkness like our cave dwelling ancestors did, fearing the thunderstorm. To believe such things is the same as unbelief because we reject the promises of God and seek our blessings through humanistic mythology. And we have been warned about such dark associations. “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” - 2 Corinthians 6:14.
    This sin finds its expression in many Christian religions, pseudo-Christian religions, and all pagan religions. It is never found in the one true Christian faith! If we have fallen into such belief we are instructed by Christ Himself as to our only recourse -“But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”  - Revelation 2:4-5. Our job is to repent from such madness and seek the faith that was first delivered to us by Jesus Christ alone. Solus Christus!

The Way Of Thanksgiving - James 2:15-17

 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. - James 2:15-17

    As we approach Thanksgiving it is important for Christians to extend the cause for thankfulness to all people in our sphere of influence. It is not enough that we are thankful for our own blessings. We must help those with less to see that despite their shortcomings they still have much to be thankful for. The first way we can do so is to remind them (and ourselves) that everything we have God has provided for us. “John answered, ‘A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.’” - John 3:27. Even the poor in Christ have much to be grateful for.
    With this in mind, we now take our blessings to the next step in Christian love: to share our blessings with others in need. We always share our good gifts with others among our family and friends at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and throughout the year but what about those around us who don’t have that advantage? What about the poor, the homeless, and the hungry? We are called by the Gospel to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.” - 1 Peter 4:10. This passage specifically regards the gifts of the Holy Spirit but it can easily be extended to all the graces we have received from God, including temporal blessings such as clothing, food, and housing.
    It does no one any good to merely chant blessings to someone in dire need of physical necessities. We must go from merely praying for others to saying, ‘what can I do for others’ in addition to our prayers? The hungry must eat. The naked must be clothed. The homeless must be sheltered. The sick must be attended to. Helping them with their bodily needs as well as their spiritual needs lightens the burdens of these souls. We must see to the corporeal provisions of those who are without. This is something for which Christ commands us - “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’” - Matthew 25:34-36. Jesus tells us that the result of our treating the needs of others will result in our inheritance in His kingdom, prepared for us from the foundation of the world!
    Let us all put forth the Christian effort to help those in need not just as the holidays approach, but everyday of every week, month, and every year. Let us cultivate the habits that show our Christian love so God’s glory may be known to all.
    As we go forward, we must remember that God sees every action taken by man. But more important: He sees every motivation as well. Making sure we ‘get a receipt’ for our generosity sucks the spiritual fruit away from the tree of our heavenly reward. The fruit withers on the tree when our giving away becomes a veiled way of ‘getting back.’ Forget the receipt! Is it not a gift we are giving? Do we require a receipt when we give birthday gifts and Christmas gifts? Think of how ridiculous the idea of a receipt for a gift is. The gift is no longer from our hearts; it’s now all about our wallets.
    Let us all go beyond the earthly honor that the world associates with giving. “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. . . But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” - Matthew 6:1, 3-4. God loves the motives and the gifts of our humble hearts. This is God’s will for us. Let us seek how and who we may help this holiday season and throughout the years ahead.