Here we are . . . examining our hearts.
Lets review quick . . .
Why are our hearts such a big deal?
They are what God looks at (1 Samuel 16:7)
What are we commanded to do?
Love the Lord with all our hearts (Deuteronomy 6:5)
Unfortunately, that is not easy or guaranteed. Just look at David. He is called a man after God's own heart yet he constantly messes up and begs the Lord for an undivided heart.
How do our hearts reach this point of division? What causes them to turn to sin instead of to the Lord?
Romans 1:24-25 says "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts . . . They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator . . ."
Essentially, all it takes for sin to gain a foothold in your life is for you to believe a lie. Any lie. In doing this, we remove the truth of God's word in our hearts and replace it with a lie. This causes our hearts to be divided. We no longer love the Lord with all of our hearts, because part of our heart is loving sin.
This looks like a huge issue to tackle. It is.
BUT DON'T GET DISCOURAGED!!!
God is faithful. He wants to get at the junk that is in your heart and allow you be undivided in your love for Him. Philippians 1:6 says that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. He promises to not abandon you, but to work on you and mold you to maturity.
So here we are, at this point where we know our hearts are divided and full of sin, but what do we do about it?
First, we need to seek the Lord. We need to determine WHY our hearts have become divided. What sin is deeply rooted in there. We need to start by figuring out what is in our hearts
For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34) (Matthew 1, 2, 3, 4. thats an easy one to remember). A lot can be said about your heart by what comes out of your mouth. Not just the things you say in passing or in conversation, but when you are talking to your best friend, and all those unfiltered, unorganized thoughts come spilling out. That is what we need to be examining.
As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man (Proverbs 27:19 sorry, no fun tricks to remember this one). Your heart reflects your true character. Do you want to be reflecting a heart of sin or a heart for the Lord. Or a divided one?
When examining our hearts we need to be careful of something. We can't just look at specific issues, problems, or events. We need to go deep. Look at WHY you reacted that way. Understand WHAT motive in your heart caused you to do that. Don't look for the bandaid either (oh, I was just tired. Well, honestly, your true self is going to show up the most when you are tired and all of your filters are off). This is heart surgery. Let the surgeon to actually do surgery. And yes, surgery is painful.
Seek the Lord and ask Him to reveal to you what truly is going on in your heart. He wants nothing to come between His heart and yours. And He will stop at nothing to get you to that point. Nothing.
There is hope for our little undivided hearts though!! More tomorrow!
