Romans 5:5 NIV
And hope does not
disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, whom he has given us.
What Is The State Of Your Heart?
You often hear people say, “Just follow your
heart!” But what if your heart isn’t
right, if it isn’t operating properly?
The other day I got angry with one of the members of my family and I
said some things I shouldn’t have said, some harsh things, some critical
things. Now, at the time, I was speaking
from my heart. It didn’t come from our
neighbor’s heart or from President Obama’s heart or from Billy Graham’s heart. It came from my heart and I am glad it wasn’t
videotaped and posted on YouTube. There
is nothing about my outburst that I am proud to have produced and yet I have to
admit it came from my heart, it came from me.
Now whenever someone issues an apology and they say, “It wasn’t me, that’s
not who I am”, that person is lying. It
came from within that person and just like my anger came out of me and my mean
words came out of me, whatever we say or do is from within us, not some pseudo
self. Our problem and it is a perplexing
problem when something comes from out of us that we don’t like is that the
confusion we have is due to our lack of understanding of our heart…we don’t
know what is actually in our own heart.
If I were to ask you what the state of your heart
is, what would you say? Would you
describe it as contented or frustrated?
Could it be said that your heart is full of joy or miserable? Is it somewhat confused, disturbed, or
pleased? Would you speak of your heart
as a mixture of a number of characteristics, some of which please you and
others a bit troubling? Your heart is
your own; it is for better or worse you and if we are to know who we are, we
must take a look at the heart we have.
Jesus made a disturbing statement about the heart
that needs to be considered. He said, “For from within, out of men's hearts, come
evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice,
deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” (Mark 7:21-22 NIV)
There is a lot of filth in the list and it
would be humiliating if others could see this in us. What must be noted is that we all have within
our hearts the building blocks for the most grotesque forms of evil. Jesus understood human personality better
than any of us and He said that our hearts contain qualities we have at one
time or another disregarded, dismissed or defended. It seems if Jesus is right, that each human
heart is corrupted and capable of generating tremendous amounts of evil. Yet few of us are monsters so what is the
problem? The New Testament has some
interesting insight into the heart and it is worth examining.
In Acts 8: 21, the Apostle Peter, aggravated that a new
Christian who had been a pagan magician wanted to buy from Peter the ability to
lay hands on others and give them the presence and power of the Holy Spirit,
rebuked the man strongly, "May
your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God
with money! You have no part or share in
this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.” (Acts 8:20-21
NIV) It is within the heart that
corruption, greed and the lust for power are developed and nurtured. The heart is the factory that produces every
sin that comes out of us. Peter did not
concern himself with the act on the man’s part of trying to buy the power of
the Holy Spirit; the attempt to gain by human effort the might of the Holy
Spirit was to Peter the sign of the real issue which was the corruption of the
man’s heart. That was where Peter
directed his stern rebuke.
We gain tremendous insight from Acts 5:3 and the
strange decision of Ananias and Sapphira to sell their land and then pretend
that they were giving the full proceeds of the sale to the Church when in fact
they were holding part back. The Apostle
Peter’s rebuke of Ananias provides us with critical information regarding the
heart. Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your
heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of
the money you received for the land? (Acts 5:3 NIV) Our question was in regard to how the Christian’s
heart can be filled with corruption and not be right with God and we see that
the answer is simple. Satan can fill the
heart even when the heart has the Holy Spirit living within it. We may not understand how this might be
possible, that God and Satan can coexist within the human heart but it is clear
from this verse that it happens. Now,
did Ananias intentionally give Satan influence over his heart or believe that
was happening? Probably not! He most likely believed everything was well
in his life and that he made a rational and intelligent decision to claim he
had donated all the proceeds of the sale of his land to the Church when in fact
he had not. He may have not given a
moment’s thought to the possibility that Satan had “filled” his heart. Yet that is precisely what the Scripture
indicates took place. A human heart
that had the Holy Spirit was filled by Satan.
Jesus did something, as described in John 20: 22,
that is often overlooked. He gave to the
disciples the gift of having the Holy Spirit but before He became a part of
them, they were told to receive the Holy Spirit. Again
Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending
you." And with that he breathed on
them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22 NIV) What is not realized is that this was a
command of Jesus, not a statement on His part of what He had done. The disciples had to decide to receive the
Holy Spirit and Jesus told them to do it.
The point is that we are not machines that God reprograms by dumping the
Holy Spirit into us. We decide if we
will receive or take into ourselves the Holy Spirit. He is not pushed into us and that implies we
have power to decide how much of an impact we will let the Holy Spirit have
within us. This is a profound
consideration. If both the Holy Spirit
and Satan can be a part of our hearts, it is we who decide how much influence
either has in our hearts. Our Lord says,
“Receive the Holy Spirit”. Should
we? Do we?
The Bible tells us what it means for the heart when
the Holy Spirit is received and allowed to change it. But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no
law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus
have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (Galatians
5:22-24 NIV) Remember that within the
heart is what Jesus described: greed, malice, lewdness, deceit, folly! What happens when the Holy Spirit begins to
produce within the heart joy, peace patience and self-control? Do the other parts of the heart just
disappear? We must never forget what exactly takes place through the Cross of
Jesus Christ. Not only does Jesus
through His death eliminate the ability of Sin to condemn us before God, the
life of Christ resurrected through the Holy Spirit also begins to rework the heart
so that we develop the characteristics of God within the heart. Satan cannot control the heart if the Holy
Spirit is ruling there but if the Holy Spirit is not received, then Satan can
do as he wishes within the heart.
You decide if you are going to receive the Holy
Spirit or let Satan rule over your heart.
Satan’s most effective strategy is to convince you that what is wrong for
you is that God has wrecked you. As long
as you have even a little bit of conviction that God has damaged your life and
cannot be completely trusted, you will hold part of your heart from God and not
receive the Holy Spirit fully. You are
the gatekeeper of your heart. There is a
magnificent account in the Bible of what happens if the Holy Spirit is given
permission to rework the heart. When
Saul came to Damascus as a representative of the Jewish leadership in
Jerusalem, he came to find Jewish Christians so that he could take them captive
back to Jerusalem for trial and execution.
Meanwhile, Saul was still
breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the
high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if
he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take
them as prisoners to Jerusalem. (Acts 9:1-2 NIV) As Saul marched with his armed guards up to
Damascus, the Lord spoke to a loyal Christian named Ananias through a vision. The Lord told him,
"Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus
named Saul, for he is praying. In a
vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to
restore his sight."
"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports
about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the
chief priests to arrest all who call on your name." (Acts 9:11-14 NIV)
Ananias had no love for Saul. Although Saul had been struck blind by the
Lord, Ananias did not pity him. Every
Christian in Damascus had heard how evil Saul was and the atrocities he
committed in the name of religion. What
God was asking of Ananias was too much for his heart. Why would he reveal to Saul his identity as a
Christian and for what reason should he help him? There was not a rational argument that could
be made for following the Lord’s command to go to Saul and let the healing of
God come to Saul through Ananias’s hands.
Ananias could not have made this decision on his own. He would not have chosen to risk his life
helping a murderer and persecutor of the Christian Church. It was the Holy Spirit that made Ananias
willing to go to Saul and reveal his Christian faith to him by praying for
him. In the book of Hebrews we are
warned against doubting God in our hearts.
See to it, brothers, that none
of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. (Hebrews
3:12 NIV) With the Holy Spirit
controlling your heart, all that Satan has worked into you including fear,
selfishness, lust, bitterness, depression, jealousy and discontent gets worked
out of you by God. What God develops in
you through His resurrected life is a heart braced by courage and overflowing
with faith, kindness, purity and love. The
love of God is so great that He has gone to the fullest extent possible to
remove all the wrong from you and replace it with His perfect goodness. Never
resist the Holy Spirit as the love of Christ is worked in you each hour of
every day. Like Ananias, trust God in
whatever He tells you to do!