Heart

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!