WHAT CONDITION IS YOUR HEART IN?

The heart plays a big part in our lives being lived out.  I am not talking about the physical heart, but the seat of our affections, our soul decisions, the part of us that responds to God...or not.  Jesus talked about the heart, a lot.  Proverbs tells us that we are to guard our hearts above everything else for it is the center of our lives.  In the Old Testament the prophet Ezekiel spoke that God would one day take out our hearts of stone and give us a heart of flesh.  What does that mean?  Simply, that life's hurts and problems can cause us to harden our hearts so we don't let anybody in who could hurt us again.  When our hearts are hard...we don't respond to God or the Holy Spirit.  God's desire is for us to keep our hearts soft, so they respond to love, His love. 

Jesus told a parable that was repeated in at least three of the Gospels, the Parable of the Sower. Because it was told over and over we can assume that it is very important. 
"One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him: “A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” Luke 8:4-8
The disciples were a perplexed, as were others.  What was Jesus trying to say?  Some were a little put out that He didn't just talk straight to them.  But He spoke in parables to cause us to seek out the answers.  You see, if we are really interested in the things of God, we will find out what He is talking about  There comes a hunger to know what is going on.  No interest, we don't bother.  Jesus did this to protect us!  Once we know the truth, we are accountable for what we know! 
The disciples wanted to know what He was talking about, so He did explain it to them in verses 11-15...
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest."
Our hearts are the soil!  What condition is your heart in?  I pray that you are a person who cultivates your heart and keeps it soft to accommodate the seed, the Word of God.  There are so many things in this life that would try to distract us and put off relationship with God.  Don't let anything separate you from having a soft heart that responds to the living God!
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WARRING BRIDE

Image
The picture of a warring bride! Beautifully dressed with her sword in hand.   This is how each of us should look in our daily life!   Seriously.   We are the Bride of Christ and we are making preparations within ourselves to be worthy to walk beside Him. Revelation 19: 7-8 says " Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him.  For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself.  She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people."    Another way we prepare ourselves to walk at His side is to..." Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of G
Read more

SHEPHERD'S STAFF

Image
      I have a staff in my office that I bought several years ago at a Jewish Festival. It has a lion's head on the top and for a long time it just sat in my office.  One Sunday morning, when I was in charge of the service, I was deeply offended by something that happened before service. I had to get up and preach.  I knew that I could not go out and preach if I didn't let this go and have a clear conscience before God.  I had about a half hour before service was to begin to talk to God about what I was feeling.  I saw that staff sitting there and I grabbed it and began to write the names of God on it.  All the names of who God was for me.  It brought me comfort and reminded me of how good He was to me, of how much He loved me.  That staff still sits in my office and reminds me of who God is for me. Recently I heard that a shepherd's staff was indeed a place where a shepherd would record his history with God.  In fact, the shepherd David, carried a staff.  Imagine fo
Read more

SERVING

Image
Have you had this experience, ask someone for help to set up, tear down, take a Sunday School class, help with an event and their response is, " I will have to pray and see if this is God's will".  What I see in our churches today is people doing nothing because they don't want to be out of God's will.  Father has plans and purposes for each one of us.  Some of those plans are personal for each one of us...and some are expectations for us all.  For instance, it is God's will for each one of us to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. To look more like Jesus, we will have to be willing to let the Holy Spirit point out what isn't Christlike and help form those things within us that need to be. As I look back over my life I understand that God used everything I did and was involved in and every person I've known to shape me and mold me.  Some of it was good and fun, while other things were horrible to walk through.  I have known great reje
Read more