knowing God thru the gospel message: love and justice

Last week I attended a breakfast meeting with other Christians at work where a lot of different topics came up.  The one that stuck was a brief discussion on how to communicate when people ask about disasters like Fukushima earlier this year.  Couple of people said something like “We have to tell people that God is a God of love and not judgment…”.

Whenever such disasters happen questions always pop up like why it happened, or why did God let it happen.  Those are difficult questions but that is not what caught my attention that morning.  It is the fact that Christians today cannot deal with a God of judgment.  Somehow they think that God is ONLY a God of love.  What they do not understand is that love and justice go hand in hand.

Today in my meditations, God reinforced one thing about Himself as He took my attention to John 3:16.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The verse that is used most often in evangelism He made it clear that His love and justice go hand in hand.  In the first half of this great verse, it explicitly talks about a God who loves and implicitly talks about a God who is just at the same time.  He loves us so much that He is ready to save us through His son Jesus who give us them eternal life.  However, that love had a price tag and that was Jesus dying on the cross.

Although the verse does not use the word ‘judgment’ it implies that God, when He gave His Son to die in my stead, meted out His justice.  God had to make a judgment for my sin because He is just and does not ignore sin.  In fact, He cannot ignore my sin because His holiness demands justice.  For me to be redeemed from God’s judgment meant someone else had to die.  He loved us so much that He made a way out for us by putting His own Son on the cross to satisfy His justice.  What an amazing thought.

You cannot separate God’s love from His judgment.  They are two traits of His character that work together with His other traits.

communication depends on communing…

I was looking up verses today on communication and I ran into Deuteronomy 6:5-12.

5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you–with great and good cities that you did not build,

11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant–and when you eat and are full,

12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

I used to mainly focus on v.7 and think of how I would reach and teach the next generation. It dawned on me today that v.7 would be very difficult if I didn’t love the Lord with all my heart, soul and might i.e. v.5, and didn’t have His commandments on my heart i.e. v.6. In other words, I cannot effectively “communicate” to my kids if I’m not “filling my mind” with Him.  There is a prerequisite for good and meaningful communication with other people.  It is about communing with Him all day.

The bible is clear that as a man thinks so is he – Pro 23:7.  The bible is also clear that when we fill ourselves with God’s word we will be communicating in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs – Col 3:16.  If we don’t fill ourselves with God’s word, we will fill ourselves the things of the world.  There is no time when a person’s heart is NOT filled.  If it isn’t being filled then the person is as good as NOT thinking which does not happen.  When we fill our hearts, the abundance will overflow out of our mouths (Mat 12:34), and what is then communicated is nothing but a state of the heart.

Added to that He instructs me to put physical reminders all around me that will always remind of who He is and what He has done in the lives of other people. What are the physical reminders I  put in front of me is something I do not really do well.  It is easy to forget spiritual things when there are a myriad of distractions.  Physical reminders are great to stay focused.

The Christian saturated with God will be an excellent communicator.

Musings on the “Old Man” and “New Man”

I’m writing as I’ve been doing a study related to the “old man” and the “new man”. It is a spin off from a word study I was doing on the “flesh” (‘sarx‘ in Greek – Strong’s Nr. G4561) in Rom 6. In writing this, I’m also taking on a view that some theologians take which is the ‘old man’ is dead and gone while ‘new man/inner man’ is perfected. I’m not so sire about that.  They use two parallel passages to make that point i.e. Eph 4:22 and Col 3:9-10. Unfortunately they do not do the grammar on all the words in those verses.

I have not studied Greek and Hebrew but I have bible study tools to help me understand Greek and Hebrew grammar, so I’m taking a stab at those two references.

Eph 4:22 [ESV]
to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,

The word ‘corrupt‘ in the Greek is passive, participle which I understand as the old self being in the process of corruption through deceitful desires. They talk about the “put on/put off” principle which I believe refers to sanctification but they do not unpack the latter part of the verse.

Col 3:9-10 [ESV]
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

In Col 3:10 the word ‘renewed‘ in the Greek is present, passive, participle which I understand as the ‘new man’ being in the process of renewal.  Again, I believe this process of renewal has to do with sanctification.

I can understand the ‘new man’ as perfect in terms of position and salvation but not in terms of progression and sanctification because the ‘new man’ does get stained with the world. I ask myself the following questions:

• Why does Paul in Rom 12:2 give us an imperative to continue to renew our minds if we have a perfected inner man?
• Why does David in Psa 51 ask God for a “clean heart”?
• Why does David in Psa 139 look introspectively and ask God to search his heart if there is a “grievous way” in himself?

If the ‘old man’ is being corrupted and the ‘new man’ is being renewed, it seems like there are some vestiges of the ‘old man’ and I believe that they are traces of our old way thinking/living, which we need to unlearn.  The more we fill our mind with His word and obey that word through the Holy Spirit, the faster will our old way of life or thinking wane. I’ll be clear…I do not believe Christians are “spiritually schizophrenic” but I do believe that when Rom 6:6 says “the old is crucified” it means the power of the old man is gone as opposed to the old man itself being gone. God has removed the power and penalty of sin but He has not removed the presence of sin.

It seems like the conflict is very much within the mind/heart and not between the mind/heart and the physical body although the physical body in many cases is the channel through which sin is manifested. The physical body has desires but it takes my heart to sin. In other words…

Sin is not sin unless the heart is involved because it takes a choice to “practice lawlessness” (1 John 3:4).

If the ‘flesh’ includes physical body + heart (mind, emotion, will), then I can confidently say the conflict is in the flesh.

the WORD made flesh…philosophical perspective

God becoming flesh has a lot of philosophical implications. As Christians we tend to miss these completely because we think ‘philosophy’ is evil. Philosophy essentially means the ‘love of wisdom’ (‘philo’ = love and ‘sophos’ = wisdom). The question is whose wisdom we live by.

Anyway, here are a few “philosophical” things to consider…

Existence of ‘the true’ God

While general revelation shows everyone that ‘a’ God exists (Rom 1:18-25), specific revelation through Christ showed who that God was.

Joh 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”
Joh 12:45 “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.
Joh 14:9 Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

He is the only “God-man” who claimed He was God.  To make that statement He was either a lunatic or he was actually who He said He was.  In more simple terms, He was either good or bad.  There is really no middle ground.  If you don’t believe He is God, you cannot even say He was a great teacher.  A “man” who makes a claim to deity CANNOT be called a “great” teacher.  You have to choose between God or a Nut.

If you follow His life and the things he taught, you will never come to the conclusion that He was mad.  No “God-man” had such an accurate view of the human heart.

Exclusivity of the ‘true’ God

Jesus made an exclusive claim that He was God.

Joh 14:6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

He used the definite article i.e. ‘the’ way, ‘the’ truth and ‘the’ life. He did not say ‘a’ way. Yes, there were people peddling “other ways” but the Truth manifested Himself and made a statement of exclusivity.

Truth by definition is ‘exclusive’. When you make an affirmation about something you exclude the other. Being born in India excludes all other countries.  All truth claims about something or somebody can be wrong at the same time but all cannot be right. It is one claim or the other, not both.

You CANNOT believe that all roads lead to God and yet people do. It is logically indefensible.  We hear the statement often…”We are all climbing the same mountain, but we are doing it from different sides”.  That sounds loving and tolerant but it is NONSENSE.  All major religions are fundamentally different and to some degree superficially similar (although people think to the contrary).  If you believe all roads lead to God, your logic flawed as it violates of one of the fundamental laws of logic i.e. the law of non-contradiction.

Eternality of the ‘true’ God

When the Word became flesh there was an interesting transaction (if I can call it that) that took place which I didn’t get it till a few years ago.

Isa 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

The ‘baby’ was born but the ‘Son’ was given. The Son existed before the creation of the universe manifested himself in time and space.

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
Joh 16:28 “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”

The universe was created through Him and for Him.  He is part of the Godhead that created the universe ex nihilo (out of nothing).

Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him.

The fact that the world was created is in keeping with the law of causality with God being the first cause.  The “nothing coming out of nothing” theory a.k.a ‘big bang/evolution’ violates this scientific law.

the WORD made flesh…existential perspective

Now that we’re past the caroling, church going, gifts and the food, what remains is the real account of Christmas i.e. that God became man and dwelt among us. The infinite condescending to the finite. The creator “mixing it up” with the creature. That will keep your thoughts occupied for a while especially when questions like these come up…“Why did He come as a man?“…”Why did God humiliate Himself?“…”Couldn’t He just “zap” us from up there to save us?“… “Why allow for controversy (fully God and fully man)?“.

It is true that Christ came to die for us because the bible says without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins – Gen 3:21, Heb 9:22. It is also true that He came to live and therein lies a pattern to living the Christian life. The Christian life not just on the spiritual realm but also the existential.

Imagine if Jesus had just showed up as a man, and a few weeks later died on the cross. The gospel message may have been different needless to say that Christmas would be very different. But it didn’t happen that way. We relate to the baby born in time and space, who grew up like other Jewish men but in whom the fullness of God dwelt – Col 1:19. He went through the normal phases of life till His death, which we can relate to in terms of living this life.

Here are a few things to reflect on…

Going about God’s business Early

From the glimpses we have of Jesus’ early life we see at the age of 12 that He was in the temple listening and posing questions to the teachers – Luke 2:46-47, 49.

Luk 2:46 Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.
Luk 2:47 And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.
Luk 2:49 And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”

As a parent I know I need to ground my children early in the things of God. It is a huge responsibility but one that is very possible as long as I do not dumb down my children. Today, unfortunately even Christians do not give enough credit to the understanding of their child and fail to train them accordingly.

Submission to God

He submitted himself to the requirements of God and learned obedience – Phi 2:5-8.

Php 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
Php 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Php 2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Php 2:8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

He didn’t learn obedience from disobedience, rather it was in the context of submission. I have to learn obedience from disobedience and submission from pride.

Obedience to God

Jesus showed us there was a love relationship between the Father and the Son which was reflected through His obedience to the father’s commands – John 14:31. Love does not exist apart from obedience. As children we are in the same love relationship. If we love God, we will keep His commandments – 1 John 5:2-3.

1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

Disciple of God

The art of true discipleship is based on the life of Christ i.e. dying to live – Mat 16:24-26.

Mat 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
Mat 16:25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
Mat 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

The life that Jesus lived is part of the gospel message.  He lived His life under God’s law and did it perfectly from child- to adulthood because we are incapable of meeting God’s standard.  Once we put our faith in Him God sees our lives through His, and this gives us a new identity, meaning and purpose to life.  That knowledge and understanding helps us through the grind of life all year round.

the dynamic of taking part in the Lord’s supper – part 2

When we meditate on God’s word the the Spirit is going to bring to mind both the vertical and horizontal. The horizontal realm is where our lives hit the road. That is where dynamic hits speed bumps, lots of them. Sometimes horizontal relationships with other Christians are not so easy. Some relationships we will mend while others remained strained because we don’t really want to mend them. We forget sometimes (or just don’t know) that the horizontal realm needs to be sorted out before we eat the bread and drink the cup together.

This dynamic is serious stuff because he who takes part “unworthily” will incur guilt and will be chastened by the Lord 1 Cor 11:29-30. We are not damned as the KJV says. Some people say the “unworthy manner” refers to “the way” the Corinthians abused the Lord’s supper – 1 Cor 11:18-22. If you read the rest of the chapter, it becomes evident that is not the primary meaning of the word “unworthy manner”. BTW, the word “manner” in some English translations does not show up in the Greek. The word is ‘anaxiōs‘, which in English is ‘unworthily’.

Personal Examination

The key is found in v.28 where Paul instructs the Corinthians to examine themselves before taking part. He meant personal examination and NOT a collective analysis of what went wrong. The word ‘examine’ in Greek is ‘dokimazo‘, which is basically used to describe something that is ‘tested for approval’ like a piece of metal. He was asking them primarily to look at their hearts to check their attitude toward Christ and their brethren. You cannot examine “your way” apart from examining ‘SELF’ i.e. the heart. In other words, my attitudes determine the way I do things. It was obvious from their conduct that the Corinthians had no regard for the Lord Jesus and that manifested itself in their conduct at the Lord’s table.

Examining my way apart from my heart is to make a separation between my actions and thought life. That is dangerous ground. We are to examine both our thoughts and actions in the light of God and His word. The bible connects the two i.e. that actions reveal to some degree what the thought life is like.

Luk 6:45 “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

I find it very interesting that when we start with one dimension (vertical or horizontal) the Spirit will eventually bring to mind the other i.e. if we are walking close with Spirit. For example, when I start meditating on God, the Spirit will show me that my understanding of Him and His instructions helps me understand my relationships with people. Conversely, when I start mulling over my relational challenges with people, the Spirit will bring me back to God and His word on how to deal with them.

Mat 5:23 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
Mat 5:24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

There are times when relationships don’t change even after we have tried to sort out issues with the other Christian(s). That is OK. As long as we have responded to God’s instructions and made the effort to make it right with others, there is nothing to defile our hearts and hinder us from partaking from the table. We have examined ourselves rightly and done accordingly.

This is a two dimensional dynamic where examination is the mechanism that brings balance to the thinking Christian.

the dynamic of taking part in the Lord’s supper – part 1

I’ve been involved in a discussion recently on the topic of communion, the main talking point being the “manner” in which one takes part in the same. It is not just the doing of the ordinance but more importantly the preparation for it. Examination is a key aspect in preparation for the Lord’s table which is in keeping with the dynamics of the heart.

breaking down the dynamic

In taking part from the table, the Christan fuses the past, present and future with one act which is a very interesting dynamic when you really think about it.

1Co 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
1Co 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
1Co 11:25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
1Co 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

As the Christian takes part (in the present) he remembers what the Lord Jesus did (past) and proclaims His death till He comes (future). Understanding that dynamic and all it encompasses is a “thought-FULL”. Unfortunately, it is something that Christianity seems to be lacking these days. We come to the table sometimes nonchalantly, sometimes ritualistically, and sometimes sinfully. I know that because I have done it myself.

It involves remembering the work of God the Son and proclaiming His work on the cross till He comes back. Remembering is not the passing thought…”Oh, Jesus, died for me“. It is much more than that. It is about being deliberate about meditation.  It could be meditating on His person and what He did, which could include everything from His birth, His sayings/teachings to His death.

Remember, biblical meditation is about “filling the mind” and not “emptying it”. No one can empty their heads completely anyway. You must fill it with one thing to get the other out. You take out the air in a glass by filling it with something else. From ‘filling the mind’ it moves to ‘processing’ and then to actions that affect the lifestyle. Therein lies the pattern of moving “truth into action”.

For the Jew, remembering involved the intellect, emotion and will i.e. the balance of the complete BEING was involved and not just one component.

The beautiful thing about biblical meditation is you can remember the past and the future. It seems strange to say we can remember the future but we are privy to such information from an eschatological sense. The future gives us hope. History is also great to focus on as we see how God worked in the life of real people from all walks of life. It gives us examples and instructions on how to deal with specific life situations – 1 Cor 10:6-11. This book is beautiful.

Mediation can go to different levels of focus.  For example, latent in the meditation of Jesus is the focus on the Godhead itself especially God the Father. You cannot really separate the two. You CANNOT understand the Son if you HAVE NOT understood the Father. Those are strong words but here is the qualification. If we ignore or don’t take time to understand the God of the old testament (OT), we will not understand a lot of what Jesus taught.  In fact, it is hard to believe Jesus as God if we neglect the God of the OT.  History, as recorded in the bible, prepares the way for God to come “in person”.  The God of the OT is the same as the God of the NT.  He and the Father are one – John 10:30, John 5:18.

I’m NOT saying we have to meditate on everything we know about God as preparation for the Lord’s table. What I am saying is that we need to take time out with His word and prayer to examine our hearts before we take part from the table. This is not the “day before communion” thing. Examining our hearts in the vertical dimension is a daily thing but when communion comes around it is different because our lives are also found in the horizontal dimension i.e. our relationship with the saints.

understand what comes out of your heart…

Besides listening to the rant or feeling the state of our hearts we need to understand what really defiles the heart. It doesn’t matter if we are Christian or non-Christian, when something goes wrong our natural tendency is to look outside ourselves first. The finger is quick to point to someone or something else before we get to ourselves (if we actually do).

In Mark 7:15-23, Jesus makes it clear that it is what is inside that corrupts a man. It isn’t what goes into a man but rather what comes out of his heart that corrupts him. There is no other religious or belief system that talks to this point. This is foreign concept.

All other belief systems (without exception) say it is that which is outside that corrupts a man. The result is that man does not take ownership of his actions.

That stems from their basic understanding of man which is that he is inherently good. If there was a premise that distinguished the Christian worldview from the others, it is that the inside of a person has to change before there is genuine behavioral change.

Jesus differentiated between the stomach and the heart which I found very interesting. In other words, He differentiated between the physical and the spiritual. I’ve read v.19 several times but I didn’t quite understand that difference till recently. Food that is physical and external does NOT corrupt the character of a person. It is that which is inside of man i.e. the spiritual side that defiles him. Mark 7:21-23 reads…

Mar 7:20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.
Mar 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
Mar 7:22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
Mar 7:23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

It is a fairly long and piercing list, one that indicts every single person. By saying that He was, in all likelihood, also dealing with the cultural taboo of eating food offered to idols. He was the master of rhetoric.

While there is a physical aspect to thought life of person it is the spiritual make up that defines his character and who he is. Bad character is what corrupts us and not what we do. It is our thought life that eventually determines how we behave. Sure, we can pretend but not for long for out of the abundance of the heart does the mouth speak (Mat 12:34). It will eventually come out.

Sow a thought reap an act; sow an act reap a habit; sow a habit reap a character; sow a character reap a destiny.

Again, the disciples did NOT understand Jesus was saying when he was explaining that truth to the people. They were still “without understanding”. Perhaps they didn’t take time time to think on what Jesus said. It is important to understand what comes out of the heart. It is part of biblical wisdom.

The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way…(Pro 14:8)

feel your heart…

It may sound like a strange thing to say but it just a figurative way of understanding the heart. While ‘listening’ implies the dynamics of what goes in and out, ‘feeling’ implies the “softness” of our hearts.

When we become Christians we become a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). As part of the new creation we get a new heart, with new desires, that is willing to serve God above all. The promise God gave the Jews in Eze 36:26-27 is valid for all who put their trust in Him i.e. that He will remove the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh.

However, that soft, fleshy heart has this old habit of becoming hard toward the things of God.

In my reading, Mark 6:52 talks about Jesus’ disciples with hardened hearts which sounds strange since they were His disciples. They were struggling with their boat against the wind when Jesus comes walking by. They were terrified (v.50) when they saw Jesus. Verse 51 says they were “astounded” when the wind ceased as Jesus got into the boat. The Greek word for “astounded” has a stronger meaning to it and basically says they were “beside themselves” or “out of their mind”.

Why did they have such a reaction? They had just witnessed Jesus feed the five thousand with “five” loaves and “two” pieces of fish. How could they miss the miracle especially when there were still leftovers? V.52 says they did not understand what happened with the feeding of the five thousand. They did not get it even after he fed the four thousand (Mark 8:17). In other words, they had not understood the “super-nature” of Jesus.

I could be wrong but my guess is that at that point they didn’t really believe in Jesus as God. Perhaps they thought He was a great prophet but not really God incarnate. I think to myself…what more would they need to see to believe He was God???????? I mean…they had witnessed lots of miracles up to that point but verse 52 clearly states their hearts were hardened.

I think of my own life when I fail to acknowledge the hand of God in my daily life and harden my heart toward His leading. The circumstances may not be as dramatic or miraculous but He is leading. I’m in the middle of planning our new house and it has been challenging to say the least. It has been postponed by a couple of months because of the faux pas of the builder and architect. My project management skills were put to the test and I had to DRIVE the architect to get things moving but in the process I lost my temper and testimony more than once.

I reached a point where God made me realize that the delays were beyond my control and I just needed to wait on Him. To some extent I failed to believe in His sovereignty and found myself doing things on my own strength. There is a reason why God has allowed the planning phase of our house to go on longer than expected. I don’t need to know the reason right now but I do know He works all things for good eventually (Rom 8:28). One day I will.

Retrospect can be a beautiful thing when we soften our hearts to the will of God.

When I work in the mode of primarily responding to the Spirit and not to my wits or strength I live as a Christian with a soft heart ready to receive the word implanted (James 1:21).

It takes the conscious effort of the thinking Christian to examine himself and watch over his heart’s condition with all vigilance.

listen to your heart…

That was the title of a popular song by Roxette in the late 80′s (those were days of listening to unedifying music). It is about listening to your heart as the emotions well inside, and acting on them. It may like great advice but it really isn’t. Wisdom is not wise when driven by pure emotion. It is just “dom” (excuse the pun). The bible has something to say about that…

Prov 28:26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool…”

I’ve been thinking on the topic of listening to the heart recently in another sense i.e. listening to hear what comes out of the heart. It was triggered by what I read in Mark 2. The scribes were questioning in their hearts as they heard Jesus forgive the sins of the paralytic.

Mar 2:5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Mar 2:6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,
Mar 2:7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

They saw a man who was forgiven and immediately what came out of their hearts was the accusation that Jesus was committing blasphemy. They reacted with negativity and suspicion because they did not believe Jesus as God. I wonder if they took time to listen to their hearts and question themselves in the light of the what was going on rather than question Jesus. There are other accounts of them doing the same and that basically showed the blindness and rejection in their hearts.

That made me think of my own heart, not in the context of blindness and rejection but rather how it reacts to life’s situations. My heart is constantly “talking” regardless of the situation, sometimes in anger (as I react to a person who has done me wrong) or in joy (as I experience a beautiful moment with my family). Tough situations are the real tests of what is actually in my heart.

Mat 15:11 It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.

Mat 12:34…For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.

How important it is for a Christian to listen to the rhythm of his own heart, and fill it with God’s word. He needs to know his heart and be conscious about what makes it tick. He needs to find out what stirs it up and what keeps it calm. Pro 4:23 says “watch over your heart” (NASB) and that implies keeping track and getting to know it. In the process he learns a lot about himself and God. The real person is in the heart and that is what God sees.

A person who does not listen to his heart is someone who is defenseless when life weighs in. He is becomes a person who reacts to life rather responding to it.

‘Reacting’ implies a lack of self-control and foolishness while ‘responding’ implies understanding and wisdom.