October 07, 2014
From the Heart
A recent headline in the
newspaper announced, “Gospel meeting led by Holy Spirit.” I had to laugh
imagining the Spirit trying to corral any and all speakers who show up ready to
talk as they are inspired to speak by the Holy Spirit. The leader of the
meeting said they will have some readings out of the Bible, but added, “We
speak from the heart; we don’t write anything down.” I’m sure these folks are well
intended, but unfortunately not everything that comes from the heart can be
trusted. Jesus said, “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the
heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil
thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander”
(Matt 15: 18-19 NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I carried on for some time an inward debate about whether I was to follow my mind or my emotions. I am tempted to think that had I been using my mind I wouldn’t have been debating the matter. But I resist such temptation, because I recall my mental condition in those days. It felt right to believe the Bible, although I desired carnal pleasures. And the Word made logical sense, although I plotted ways to fulfill my own desires. Probably that was why the debate. Neither my mind nor my emotions tracked well with each other, or even proceeded consistently of themselves.
-----One day felt good; another day felt bad. The good day looked bad; the bad day looked good. I never looked good, and for the most part, I always felt bad. But nothing is all one or the other, so I had moments I did not understand, but that felt good, felt very good. And I had occasional thoughts that made more sense than I believed I was capable of thinking. I would hang on to the thoughts, but the feelings always fled. Blue was my favorite color, but I lived gray.
-----Self control is fruit of the Spirit. I didn’t reason it out at the time, but fortunately, a gun wasn't what would have to be pried from my cold dead hands, but the Bible was. I was stuck to it because of its hope and promise, and because thankfully, all three of my parents had lived lives and done things that made Jesus sticky. So, while the debate was ongoing and the gloom was always overhead, I was always considering one thing or the other I remembered the Bible said. Fortunately, I had enough control over my mind and emotions to hang around the Bible, keep a job, and learn what I could.
-----I suppose it sounds trite, but what I eventually learned was that it is neither the mind nor the emotions I should follow, but His Word. It would seem that comes through the mind, reading, intellect, understanding, and all. But concepts have their emotional components, and the deeper understandings of the Word’s directives come through the feelings of doing them. Then, it is interesting how feelings attract ideas. And the more self-controlled into the Bible’s principles is one’s behavior, the more the emotions from it network the mind’s plots around it.
-----Although the error-free condition is not yet attainable, although next to our Holy Father the best of our behavior yet looks bad, people do rise to a high degree of decency on a human scale. The Bible can speak of the evil which pours forth from the heart, because it does profusely from rebellious hearts and occasionally from obedient ones. But it also speaks of its well-spring of life. “…wisdom will come into your heart.” (Prov 2:10) “Let your heart hold fast my words.” (Prov 4:4) “Keep your heart with all vigilance; for from it flow the springs of life.” (Prov 4:23) A heart well kept in thinking and doing and feeling God’s Word issues forth good and relatively pure water and can speak the right stuff extemporaneously, though it might need to polish and practice before it can convincingly.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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