Understanding the Heart

I have found over the time that I've been in Christ, that as I've gotten to know God better I have also gotten to know myself better. David understood what I'm trying to say, and the following words are evidence of it: "Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress" (Psm. 17:3). Job also got to know what he was made of over the time he had served God faithfully, and that is how he could declare the following: "Thou knowest that I am not wicked... But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined" (Job 10:7; Job 23:10,11). These were men who knew themselves because they knew God. If we continue to "purify [ourselves] even as he is pure," what we learn about ourselves will be better than what we expect it to be (I Jn. 3:3). Reason being that the only way we can be righteous is if we are partakers of his righteousness, and we abide therein (Heb. 12:10; Jn. 15:5). So what we learn about ourselves after abiding in Christ over a long period of time, and after coming through many trials successfully, is that we have kept our initial unity with him, or kept our "first love," as the scripture speaks of (I Cor. 6:17; Rev. 2:4). When it's all said and done that has to be good because it is Christ in us, which is the only good we have, and all the good we need (Rom. 7:18; Gal. 2:20). The truth is, everyone who is in Christ gets to know their own heart better as they go forward from day to day over a period of time. So what about those who are not finding out good things about themselves so much? Well, that is where we decide what we are going to be, because we have all at one time or another found out bad things about ourselves. The whole key to whether we fail or overcome is honesty. We start this walk with Jesus with honesty of heart by coming clean before God and being filled with his "Spirit of holiness" (Jn. 7:37-39; Rom. 1:4).

What it takes to remain holy after we are in Christ, I believe the apostle Paul said it best: "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him" (Col. 2:6). Nobody has ever received God's Spirit and had their sins taken away without being fully honest before God as to where they're at and where they need to be. That's just a plain fact of the Gospel. So if we remain honest before God every day about where we are at and where we need to be, we can always get to where we need to be, which is holiness. Those who eventually find out that they are better than what they realized, find that out because they have remained honest and humble before God every day, and have not tried to fool themselves about anything. They repent when they are wrong, and they are thankful for the righteousness that God let's them be a partaker of in him. The overriding reason that true followers of Christ are able to remain honest with God is because they have learned the enormity of God's mercy through their continuance in honesty and humility. They truly know the meaning of such sayings as this one: "For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds" (Psm. 108:4). And this one: "He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy" (Psm. 147:10,11). On the other hand, those who do NOT remain honest before God, fail to do so because they simply do not trust in his mercy toward them. Sadly for some who have trouble overcoming failure, as all have had to deal with, they end up focusing more on their own shortcomings than on God's mercy to fix what is broken. If we fail to trust God's mercy to right our wrongs, then we run the risk of beginning to justify our faults rather than get them righted. That is where honesty can end, and erroneous mindsets and erroneous doctrines can take the place of that first honesty and humility that we began our walk in.

It is unspeakably sad that this happens because we who are in Christ have so much more mercy to hope in than either David or Job ever knew. We perpetually have the cross of Christ, the everlasting symbol of God's love for mankind, to look to. The price that Jesus paid for every sin that could ever be committed by anyone, was so very complete, and so much greater than the grand total of sins that anyone could ever commit. There simply is no reason whatsoever for anyone to be lost, or for anyone to not attain to and maintain holiness in their lives for that matter. Satan will give someone who has failed every reason under the sun to believe that their failure is too great to be cleared, but all he is really doing is diminishing the monumental sacrifice of the Son of God who died for our every sin, and will forgive every sin that is confessed honestly and humbly to him (I Jn. 1:9; I Jn. 2:1). Jesus actually instructed us to forgive one another four hundred and ninety times in a day if needed (Mat. 18:21,22). I really believe that he is at least as forgiving as he requires us to be, don't you think? So what it comes down to is that we need to dwell a whole lot more on what Jesus has done to succor our redemption, than on what we have done to mess it up. In other words it's more about him than it is about us. Does that make sense? He knows where we come from, and he knows that we have need. That is why the following was written: "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:14-16). To finish off the point, let's look no further than the words of Jesus, who defined what it would take for us to be saved in the end: "But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience" (Lk. 8:15). Amen.