“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Romans 2:7-8 NIV
Our actions are a reflection of what is in our hearts. If our hearts are polluted by preoccupation with ourselves, we will be “self-seeking.” If our hearts are polluted by embracing the lies of the enemy, our hearts are polluted by rejection of the truth and following evil. But if our hearts are seeking God’s approval, our hearts are full of the desire to glorify Him. If our hearts desire to reflect His character to those around us, our hearts are full of desiring to honor Him.
What I am seeking reflects what is truly in my heart. Seeking God and His ways brings great reward to our lives — “eternal life!” Seeking after “self” will lead us in paths of death, darkness, and destruction — “wrath and fury.”
We need to ask ourselves: What am I experiencing in my life? Does it reflect what I am seeking?
If I am seeking God first, He assures me that I will find Him and experience Him — life!
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Romans 2:7-8 NIV
Our actions are a reflection of what is in our hearts. If our hearts are polluted by preoccupation with ourselves, we will be “self-seeking.” If our hearts are polluted by embracing the lies of the enemy, our hearts are polluted by rejection of the truth and following evil. But if our hearts are seeking God’s approval, our hearts are full of the desire to glorify Him. If our hearts desire to reflect His character to those around us, our hearts are full of desiring to honor Him.
What I am seeking reflects what is truly in my heart. Seeking God and His ways brings great reward to our lives — “eternal life!” Seeking after “self” will lead us in paths of death, darkness, and destruction — “wrath and fury.”
We need to ask ourselves: What am I experiencing in my life? Does it reflect what I am seeking?
If I am seeking God first, He assures me that I will find Him and experience Him — life!
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Romans 1:21 NIV
Today we read Romans 1.
You and I were born with a heart defect! Before you object and try to tell me that your “ticker” is working just fine, let me clarify. This defect is within our spiritual hearts. This defect is serious, and many of us do not even know we have it, much less that our spiritual hearts exist.
However, we need to understand that not only do we have a spiritual heart, it is the MOST important thing about us. This heart is where we are able to experience the very thing we were created for, relationship with God or oneness with Him. It is comprised of our mind (the thinker), will (the doer), and emotions (the feeler).
The defect of this heart is that we are born with it being darkened. To be darkened is to be made black, obscure, or destitute of light. We come into this world with a spiritual heart that is inclined towards sin. Our thoughts are “futile” — sinful; acting without regard to the divine law and glory, or to one’s own eternal happiness. (Webster’s 1828) Our actions are motivated by “dishonorable passions.” (Verse 26 ESV) We believe our self centered actions are wise, but in truth it is foolishness. (Verse 22). This is because we worship ourselves (a me centered life) and the things we have created (our jobs, our homes, our hobbies, our phones, etc.) instead of worshiping God. We don’t accept His truth that we hear in His Word. Instead we would rather believe a more convenient lie (Verse 25) about the things we want when and how we want it.
God will not force Himself on us to correct this defect. BUT, He does offer us the cure! A NEW Heart!
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV
We must choose…
Is what you are doing in your life not working? Has sin (knowing what is good to do, but not doing it) been a struggle? God offers us transformation from what we are to what He intended us to be all along – a reflection of Him full of His peace, joy, love, etc. We can walk in truth, live with purpose, be full of His wisdom, and experience His life. It all starts with asking God to give you a new spiritual heart. Ask Him to transform the way you think, and to align your feelings with His truth in His Word. Ask Him to help your actions to flow from a new pure heart inside of you.
We do not have to live with a darkened heart any more. We can have a new spiritual heart and experience relationship with God!
“And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” Romans 1:6 NIV
(Today we read Romans 1)
You and I were created for connection. We were meant to be a part of and in relationship with someone greater than us. We were created to belong. Paul puts it this way, we are “called to belong to Jesus…”
When God first created man, He stated something very profound:
“The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone…”” Genesis 2:18 NIV
It is not good for any of us to be alone and disconnected. We can see it easily in the life of the most fragile amongst us, a baby. Without connection to their mother and father, lack of physical contact, (skin on skin time— close and intimate) a baby will present as “failure to thrive.” They simply will not develop correctly without experiencing “belonging.”
Spiritually, we will not as well. God knows this. His great love draws us in for connection to Himself. He knows that without us experiencing, “belonging” to Him, we will be “failure to thrive” spiritually. This will affect every area of our lives. We will lack peace, love, and joy if we live disconnected from Him. We NEED to belong to Him.
Paul states not only that we are “called to belong”, but we are “called to be God’s “holy people” i.e. “saints”. (Verse 7) To be holy is to be set apart for God. It is to be conformed to His image and have our life regulated by His divine precepts (i.e. God’s Word) -Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
Our connection to our loving Heavenly Father, will cause us to grow as we were meant to grow. We will become more and more like Him in every way — His image bearer.
Do you feel the longing “to belong?” This is what you were created for — relationship with God.
He longs for you “to belong” to Him as well. In fact our verse says, He called us to belong to Jesus Christ. He called us to be His Holy people — set apart for Himself.
All we have to do is come to Him responding “Yes God, I want to be connected to you! I no longer want to live my life alone. I give myself to You. I belong to You!”
Bit’s in horses mouths, rudders on ships… small objects can steer large objects. Our tongue is a small member of our body. (Verse 5) It can make great boasts. It “sets the whole course of one’s life…”. This is because what we speak is what comes out of our spiritual heart. What is inside of us will be displayed by what we say. (Luke 6:45)
When our tongue is motivated by a heart that is consumed with selfishness and sin, it is “a fire, a world of evil among the part of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” (Verse 6) The truth is, “no human being can tame the tongue…” (verse 7)
BUT God can!
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV
God gives us a new heart and fills us with His Spirit. He gives us His Word to meditate upon, memorize, and speak!
What is coming out of your mouth? When our tongue is submitted to God and His Word, speaking life, the course of our life changes. We will experience the life of God flowing out of us!
My daughter in law is a minimalist housekeeper. At first her way of doing things seemed a little extreme to me. If she doesn’t use something, she gets rid of it from her house. She doesn’t hold onto very much stuff “for a rainy day…” Her house is clutter free, easy to keep clean, and refreshing.
I’ve been living at my current home for 17 years. I have not adopted her mindset when it comes to stuff… There have been times when my husband and I contemplate getting a dumpster to get rid of the extras. Life would be a little easier if we did.
“Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” James 1:21 NIV
James tells us that God has good things in store for us. “Every good and perfect is from above…” God desires that righteousness is produced in us. Which is “Purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law.” (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)
In short, we need to “get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent…” Repentance is the equivalent of cleaning out the spiritual clutter of our spiritual hearts. It is making room for the “Word planted in you, which can save you.” The word “Save” here in the Greek means, “To save, heal, preserve, rescue.”
God wants us to be full of Him — His Word! He wants to save us from our destructive patterns, heal us from our hurtful past, and rescue us from the sin that destroys us.
What is it that we need to “get rid of…?” Holding tightly to our ways, our thoughts, and our desires (i.e. sin) leads only to death, darkness, destruction.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 NIV
It’s time to take our “spiritual clutter” (sins) to the dumpster of repentance and get rid of all the moral filth we have been living in!
“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” James 1:13-15 NIV
Sin is a choice. It doesn’t just happen. We know the good we should do, but we don’t do it. (James 4:17) There is a progression towards sin and death.
Evil desire — i.e. lust. Longing for what we know is wrong.
Enticement — temptation. Baited. Satan schemes against us. He looks for ways to get us to fall into his sinful traps. He places these lures before us with the desire for us to go after them.
Sin — a voluntary turning from what is right.
Death — Sin separates us from God. God is life. Sin keeps us from His life.
The truth is what we decide to listen to matters. Our evil desires/ lusts are fed by our selfish choices. Our selfish choices are fed by our thoughts.
In Jesus we can live victoriously over sin. He gives us a new heart that desires to follow Him and obey. He has given us His Word that renews our mind to think His thoughts.
“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.” Psalms 119:9 NIV
God has created us to desire. He wants to be our one desire!
Don’t be “dragged away” by choosing to listen to the old lustful desires of your self life. Focus on Jesus and His Word. Let Him be the One Thing you long for!
I’ve planted a few gardens. The idea behind a garden is to plant a seed that will produce ALOT. When I put a seed in the ground, I am desiring to see the good vegetables to come after time of tending the seeds and the plants they will yield.
Our Heavenly Father has given us the seed of His Word. He sows this seed within our spiritual heart. His desire is to see the good fruit that it will bear in our lives.
The seed of the Word is “living and active.” It is good seed. It will produce what it was sent to produce. However, if fruit is not produced, the issue isn’t the seed. The issue is the condition of the soil the seed fell upon.
Simply put, what is the condition of your spiritual heart. Is it hard and unyielding. Is it filled with rocks (sin) that keep the Word from taking root? Is it lined with thorny plants “the cares of the world and deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things” that “chokes the Word, and proves unfruitful?” Or, is your heart good soil that hears the Word and accepts it bearing fruit?
Our Heavenly Father is sending forth His Word. He desires for us to receive it and enjoy the good fruit it produces in our lives. Not just a little of the good fruit, but a lot! His desire is for us to receive it by hearing it and accepting it. He is the Sower of good seeds. Will we receive?
The Pharisees thought they had God figured out. They had a list of laws with boxes to check off on that list. If they fulfilled it all they thought they were all good with God. They had “religion”…
Jesus came. He was Emmanuel — God with us. He came displaying God the Father to anyone who would pay attention to Him. Jesus walked and talked with the people who followed Him. He lived in relationship with them. His words He spoke and His call to follow Him literally changed lives. Relating to God was no longer a list of boxes to check off. Relating to God became a relationship — the very thing God wanted all along. Following the list of rules regarding the Sabbath (including picking grain for a hungry group of men) was not what God was after all along. It was their hearts.
God wants our hearts as well. When we truly love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we will do the things that God desires. We do not need a list of rules regarding the Sabbath when our greatest desire is to love and obey the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus.
God will give us a new heart that desires to do what is right if we will only ask Him to. His desire is for us to know Him intimately in a relationship, not follow a list of rules.
“Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”” Acts 15:10-11 NIV
Today is Acts 15
There was a division in he early church. A council met to discuss this division. Some of the Jewish believers wanted the new Gentile believers to be circumcised so that they could observe the Jewish law. Peter spoke to the council with these words, “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus…”
Salvation does not come through rituals, traditions, works, being an extra good person… Salvation is through grace alone! There is nothing we can do to be saved, except admit that we are sinners, believe in Jesus, and confess He is our Lord!
God is not looking for us to join a religion. He is wanting us to be in a relationship with Him. This was evident when the Gentiles, heard the Word of God and believed, the Holy Spirit was given to them. It was the same for the Gentiles as the Jews.
Hear the Word! Receive the Word! Believe the Word! This is the way to truly love God. Our love will be expressed in our obedience to Him.
Then we will experience God in a deep and intimate relationship, what we were created for.
Your Love 