by David Brenneman
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:33-37.
“Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.” Luke 8:16-18.
"But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.” Matthew 15:18-20.
Oh the things that make for difficult days that we don't take into consideration nor enter our minds!
We can and will be our own worst enemy when it comes to ourselves and what we do concerning others. Aside from the above mentioned verses we also read: “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds." Jeremiah 17:9-10.
Even the tiniest ounce, the tinest minutea of what can come from the heart can mess up a lifetime of efforts.
King Solomon in all his wisdom and with all that he had been granted in his latter days totally missed the mark with his relationship with the Lord Jesus.
We too can set up idols in our lives.
We too can be like others, doing whatever is right in our own eyes, even with being saved.
We too can justify our 'good' choices just as the rest in this world do.
We too can boast in ourselves when such boasting profits nothing and leads only to destruction.
The Scriptures DO say that "pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling" in Proverbs 16:18.
What things are we keeping in our lives that ought not to be there?
What idols have we buried in our tents and think that nobody but us is aware of? Read that in Joshua 7.
We try to because our sin nature still tries to assert itself in our lives in any way that it can. We need daily cleansing, not just every now an again when we think about asking for forgiveness for our sins.
We can grow callous to sin and just 'get used to it'. We can grow callous to what we hear, and just 'get used to it'. We can grow callous to what we see, and just 'get used to it'.
Should you ever just 'get used' to sin and it's practices in your life?
The Pharisee's and Sadducee's had hardened, unteachable, hearts, because they loved their sins more than they loved obeying the Word of God.
During the time that Jesus had His Disciples He often rebuked them for their hardened hearts. Do you really think so highly of yourself that you aren't teachable? May we ALWAYS be teachable to the Spirit of God.
We shouldn't be so comfortable with ourselves or our lives we lead that we don't ever stop to consider our ways before the Lord.
Just because things are going smoothly doesn't at all imply that all is right before the Lord.
Just because things are going as though through storms doesn't at all imply that we're entirely obedient or that we are being obedient at all.
We can and will have struggles in life to do with the matters of our heart. Even going back to Cain, he was warned that sin was there, at crouching at the door of his heart, waiting for an opporunity to get in.
We can blind ourselves to much concerning ourselves. Which is why it's every so important to be in a Bible believing, Bible preaching, church. To be among those who know enough to get past themselves and to be accountable to one another. It's not enough to just go to such a church it's imperative to be involved with the lives of others that go there on a one-on-one level.
We do see in the Gospels of Jesus sometimes going one-on-one with some of the Disciples.
A very hard thing to do is to ask someone else into our lives with the express purpose of showing us our faults and to be there for us to help us overcome them in the Lord.
We cannot go it alone. We cannot trust ourselves to be truthful to ourselves. We will lie to ourselves. We will justify all kinds of sinful practices to ourselves. We will make excuses for ourselves.
It's what's behind dying to self and living unto the Lord...and no it's not an easy thing to do. It takes intentionality, it takes the power of the Spirit within us.
Does not Scripture tell us we are not our own that we were bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ? To seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness?
We cannot hold onto anything in this world tightly and do those things at the same time. We cannot justify a single idolatrous thing in our hearts. We WILL give an account of our lives before Jesus and Scripture says that every secret thought and intention of the hearts will be exposed.
Taking every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ takes a lot of effort and time.
Being intentional in turning down things of this world in favor of time spent learning from the Spirit takes a lot of effort because the heart wants nothing to do with it in and of itself.
Forgiving others takes on a new meaning because when we see it from God's perspective it's freeing in ways we never knew. Unforgiveness is ugly and it is also a sin because it puts up a barrier between us and God. We won't be forgiven if we don't forgive.
So what's going on in your world? What's going on deep down inside where you don't talk about with others? What's the condition of your heart...really?
Our thoughts will either lift us up or bring us down. They can hinder our prayers or free them to get to the Throne of Jesus in an expeditious manner.
Our hearts can either live a renewed life in Christ or they will cause us many a grief.
The choice is always with us each and every morning and throughout our day as to who we will serve.
An you will serve either you or you will serve Jesus. You will choose one or the other.
Who are you choosing?
The Bible says you choose one you will be cursed the other you will be blessed. There's no middle ground.
We will have enough things to be ashamed of before the Lord when we give an account of our lives...do we really want to add to that by willful disobedience, by willfully choosing dumb things to stay in our lives that we should have given to Jesus to deal with?
Choose wisely.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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