Keep the Heart

“Your heart rate is too low,” my doctor said.

At a recent physical, my doctor did a baseline EKG and discovered that my resting heart rate was far below normal. I then found myself searching for a cardiologist for the first time in my nearly forty-eight years of life. A week later, I was given a heart rate monitor to wear. The contraption was glued to my chest and I wore it 24/7 for a week. I hope to soon learn the results.

As we well know—whether we passed 9th grade biology or not—the heart is what keeps us alive. This muscle pumps blood through the circulatory system to the rest of the body and beats about 100,000 times a day. It rests in the center of our chest and is central to our life and wellness.

I don’t know about you, but I rarely think about the work my heart is doing and until I hit forty, I hardly thought about what it needed to remain healthy. But our heart does need monitoring and care. That’s why the doctor listens to it at each visit and urges patients to stay away from fried and fatty foods.

The Bible talks about the heart a lot. Not so much our physical heart—though we ought to steward its care. Rather, the Bible talks about our spiritual heart, what lies at the center of who we are. Contrary to cheesy romance movies, when the Bible talks about our heart, it doesn’t mean the source of our feelings as opposed to our thoughts, as in “just follow your heart.” Rather, the Bible uses the word “heart” to refer to the core of who we are and it includes our thoughts, feelings, desires, choices, and will. All these act on and influence the other, with our desires often leading the way.

The Bible also teaches us that the heart is fallen in sin—a condition which began with the fall of man in Genesis 3. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). It is not our circumstances or what other people do or say that is the source of our problems. As Jesus taught, it is not what is outside of us that defiles us, but what is in us. “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mark 7:20-23). James teaches that disordered desires of the heart cause our conflicts in life, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?” (James 4:1).

Because of this, Proverbs urges us to guard the heart, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (4:23). The Hebrew word for “keep” is the same word used to talk about the watchmen who stand watch on the walls of the city, alert and ready to respond when enemies come near. The word is used to mean preserving or maintaining as well as protecting and guarding.[1] When it comes to keeping our heart, we need to both preserve and protect it.

To preserve our heart, we keep it healthy. We nurture it and tend to it by feasting on the Word of God. We allow the Word to examine and try our hearts. God gave us His Spirit who uses the Word to sanctify our hearts—to change and transform us from the inside out. The more we study and meditate on the Word, the more we see the true state of our hearts. We see those things which don’t belong, the sins which we so easily ignore. We see the pride, self-righteousness, and selfishness. We the see ways in which we fail to love God with all heart, our disordered desires and idols we worship—those things we look to for hope and life and meaning apart from God. As the Spirit uses the Word to convict us and show us our sin, we look to his grace to remind us of the gospel and who we are in Christ. We confess and repent and rejoice in the gospel which saves us. The Spirit then helps us remove those idols we worship and grow in greater love and knowledge of our Savior.

We also must guard our heart, keeping watch for those things which tempt, deceive, and draw us into sin, including ungodly influences from the world and temptations from evil. As Ephesians 6 reminds us, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (v.12). We wear our Ephesians 6 armaments into battle each day, aware that arrows are flying at us left and right. And we follow Jesus’ command to watch and pray (Matthew 26:41).

In all our heart-keeping, we must never forget that God is the ultimate heart-keeper for nothing can separate us from his great love for us in Christ. And more, he has provided the means of grace for us to preserve and protect our heart. We have the gift of the Spirit who lives within us, the very power of God—the same power who raised Christ from the dead. We have all the promises of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We have access to the throne of grace. We have the very Word of God to read, study, and meditate upon. And we have the community of faith which walks beside us in the journey.

No doubt, I am very aware of my physical heart these days and the need to monitor it. To keep and protect it. Even as I do so, I know it has an expiration date. However, my spiritual heart does not. How much more ought I to keep it? For it is my life. “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (4:23).

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

[1] With All Your Heart by A. Craig Troxel, p. 155.

When We Try To Shape God's Will to Our Own

Have you ever said, “I just want to know God’s will?”

It’s a question many believers ask in the face of a dilemma or a difficult decision. We may stand at a crossroads, looking at two different paths before us, and don’t know which way to go. We fear the unknown and want God to make it clear which path is better than the other. We just want to know what to do. There are times where we need wisdom in a complex situation and we desire God to provide that wisdom. We pray for God to help us make decisions that glorify him, that are in keeping with what he has called us to do.

There are inevitably times in life when we search God’s word for wisdom and what we find clashes with our wants and desires. We read the Bible and find that our plans conflict with God’s revealed will—that what we desire is sinful and we are called to turn from it. In that moment, it is tempting to step back and say, “Did God really say…?” Or to attempt to bend what God says to conform to our own will. Or to deny his will altogether and do what we want to do anyway.

In the book of Jeremiah, we see God’s people desire to know God’s will, or at least that’s what they say they want. After the king of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and took most of the people into captivity, he left behind a small remnant to tend to the fields. The king also placed a governor over them. But a man named Ishmael led a revolt and killed the governor (Jer. 41). The people were afraid of what the king would do to them. They thought they ought to flee to Egypt. So they asked the prophet Jeremiah to tell them what God wanted them to do. They asked for God’s will: “Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the LORD your God for us, for all this remnant—because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us—that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do” (Jer. 42:2-3). They then promised to do whatever God said.

Jeremiah then brought them God’s response: "

“If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the LORD your God and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die” (42:10-16).

God called them to stay in the land and not flee to Egypt. He tells them he will plant them there and they will be fruitful. He calls them to trust in him, to fear him and not the king of Babylon. He promises them mercy and deliverance. But if they disobey and leave for Egypt, he warns them of punishment.

As it turns out, they don’t like what God has to say. They decide Jeremiah must be lying to them. After all, he didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear. So they go to Egypt, where they wanted to go from the beginning (Jer. 43). They didn’t trust God and sought salvation apart from him.

Isn’t that what got them into trouble in the first place? Their relentless pursuit of idolatry brought Babylon to their gates. They turned from God to pursue false saviors and he punished them by sending Babylon to defeat them. The ink was barely dried on the their new passports when they once again turned their hearts from God, seeking salvation apart from him.

In terms of their encounter with the prophet, God’s people had already determined what they would do; they didn’t want to know God’s will, they wanted his will to conform to their plans. They wanted his will shaped to fit theirs. And when it didn’t, they did what they wanted to do anyway.

The truth is, it is always God’s will that we trust him alone for salvation. It is always God’s will that we cast aside all attempts at self-rescue or deliverance from a counterfeit god. And it is always God’s will that we do what his word tells us to do.

I can’t help but think of my own wayward heart as I read these chapters in Jeremiah—as I thought of the times I’ve done the same. The times when my own foolish desires resisted doing what I know God’s word says. When I tried to find ways to fit my will in and around God’s word, bending it to shape what I want. And in the end, it revealed that I truly did not want to know God’s will at all.

But praise the Lord for his mercy! God knew what was in the people’s hearts. He knew their intentions. He knew they would turn and make their way to Egypt. And he knows what is in my own heart—the false saviors I trust in, my sinful desires, and rebellious pursuits. That’s why he sent Jesus, the One who perfectly lived the will of God. The One who cried out, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22: 42). The One who walked into God’s will, fulfilling the plan created in eternity past to bear the sins of his people.

God is merciful when we are unfaithful.

Father, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. Through your Spirit at work in me, help me to want what you want. Shape my desires and plans to align with yours. Thank you for Jesus, my savior and deliverer. He alone rescues me from my sin. Help me to turn from all counterfeit loves and serve you alone.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Photo by Taylor Heery on Unsplash

Three Ways Comparison Steals our Joy

I recognize the feeling the moment it happens. A friend announces a new opportunity in her life or talks about a recent experience or shows me a material blessing and my first thought is, “Why not me?” I look at my own life and find it lackluster in comparison. I want what she has. It all seems so unfair. I’ve worked just as hard as she has but have nothing to show for it. Any blessings I have received fail to measure up to what she has. I then find myself stuck in the mire of self-pity— feeling sorry for myself that I’m missing out on all that my friend has that I don’t.

Comparison. It’s a struggle we all know too well. Whether it’s hearing about the ministry success of a peer or touring a friend’s new house or watching another child shine on the ball field while yours sits on the bench, we know what it’s like to compare our lives and what we have to someone else. And to want their life instead.

Such comparison reveals the idols of the heart in a way nothing else can. At least it does for me. It shows me how much I live for success or affirmation. It shows me how much I want other people to notice what I can do or what I’ve achieved. It reveals how much I live for the things of this world, rather the things of heaven.

Comparison is sneaky. It creeps up when we’re not paying attention. Yet the more we get caught in its trap, the more it steals our joy. It creates tension in our relationships. It turns our focus inward rather than upward. It tells us that God’s plan for us has failed; we know better how our life ought to be. It causes us to envy rather than give thanks for all that God provides.

While there are many ways comparison steals our joy, here are three ways I see comparison impact my own life:

Comparison makes us unable to rejoice with those who rejoice: In Romans 12:15, Paul exhorts us to “rejoice with those who rejoice.” In verse 10 he writes, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” These admonitions are all rooted in our union with one another in Christ. We are all part of the same body (12:4). God blesses each member of the body in different ways, giving us different gifts and graces. Because we are a part of the same body, the good that God does in another brother or sister’s life is our good as well and we are to rejoice with them in it. When we compare ourselves to one another, it keeps us from rejoicing with them. Instead, we feel bitterness. We begrudge the blessings in the life of another. We want ourselves to be honored rather than honor another. We want to be celebrated rather than celebrate what God has done for someone else.

Comparison pulls us away from community: When we hear of good news in the life of another, not only do we fail to rejoice with them, comparison then pulls us away from one another. It threatens our unity as we strive to outdo one another in our successes and achievements. We compete against one another, forgetting we are on the same team. We stop praying for the Lord’s blessing in each other’s lives and focus our prayers on our own desires. Instead of working with the body, we work against it.

Comparison breeds discontentment: Comparison also births discontentment in our hearts. The more we compare ourselves and our lives to one another, the more we are dissatisfied, because there’s always something we don’t have. There’s always someone who has something more. Rather than finding our satisfaction in Christ and who he is for us (Phil. 4:11-13), we seek after some elusive desire that fades like the sun burning off the morning fog.

In all these ways and more, comparison steals our joy and leaves behind only bitterness, envy, and discontentment. When we find our hearts tempted to compare our lives to others, may we look to him who “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2: 7-8). Paul tells us that this mind of Christ—this heart of humility, of counting others more significant—is “yours in Christ Jesus” (v.5). This means we don’t have to compare ourselves to others. Because we are one with Christ, we have all that we need to resist the temptation. He given us the “same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (v.2) so that we can “do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (v.3).

Let us be satisfied in Christ today and rejoice with those who rejoice.

Photo by Andrew Moca on Unsplash