The Heart and Repentance

What is on my mind tonight is this: If we are followers of Christ, then our heart should truly be 'with' anyone and everyone that we are connected with, and it should remain with them unless and until they make it impossible for it to be so. The heart of Jesus was with all of mankind as he hung on the cross for six torturous hours, dying a slow cruel death in order to pay the ultimate penalty for the sins of all men for all time. It was the staying power of the love of God in his heart that kept him hanging on the cross till he died, rather than coming down from it at any time as he could have done. The promise that I consider the greatest of the promises of God, is due to that same staying power of the love of God which is in him and the Father: "... for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5). All of the faithful souls that we read about in the Bible had that characteristic staying power of love for those around them. Certainly one of the greatest examples was Ruth, who made what I consider to be the most powerful statement of faithfulness in the Bible, when she addressed her widowed and afflicted mother-in-law Naomi: "And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me" (Ruth 1:16,17). The statement itself is not what made Ruth's faithfulness great, but rather that she followed through with it even as she said. Another outstanding example was David. He and his beloved friend Jonathan made a covenant in which David swore that he would intreat Jonathan's seed kindly, in the event that Jonathan would die before him, which he did when he, his father, and his brothers died fighting the Philistines at Mt. Gilboa (I Sam. 20:14-17).

Years after Jonathan died, and David being king, he made it his business to find out if any of the house of Saul were still living, so that he could show kindness to them for Jonathan's sake (II Sam. 9:1,2). He was very glad to find out that Jonathan had a son, though he was crippled; and he called for him to be brought to him: "Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant! And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually" (II Sam. 9:6,7). Though Jonathan died in battle many years before this, and things had all worked out well for David, it was still in his heart to fulfill the covenant that he and Jonathan had made many years earlier. And make no mistake, David was not just 'filling a quota' by this act; but rather it was the love that remained in his heart for Jonathan, and it was his fervent desire to remember that covenant and deal graciously with Jonathan's seed. In contrast to these remarkable examples of the faith, Jesus spoke some of the most sobering words in the Bible about the time of the end, which time is all but completely upon us now: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Mat. 24:9-13). I don't understand how some people want to say that Jesus wasn't talking about God's people in this passage. God's people are who ALL of the scriptures are for. Unbelievers take no heed to the words of the Bible, and Jesus didn't give any instructions for those who would not believe; but rather for those who DO believe.

These sobering words are a warning to all who are in Christ today by means of his Spirit baptism, to keep a constant vigil over their hearts so that THEIR love does not "wax cold." Those with eyes to see can see things shaping up in this world in such a manner that it will soon paint true believers into a corner where they will be seen as the enemies of all 'progress' for mankind. That's where we're headed at this very moment, and we're getting there fast. Those who hold true to the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ will be seen as being against the 'unity' of the whole 'global community,' because the whole world is quickly succumbing to a moral insanity the likes of which has never been seen. Anyone who doesn't suck up to the respect of men that the whole world is getting so drunk on, will be cast out by the entire world, even as Jesus stated above. If we intend to be in the number that "endues unto the end," we had better make it our top priority now to be steadfast in "purifying [ourselves] even as he is pure," and I mean every day without fail (I Jn. 3:3). Otherwise the day may come where we are literally caught off base, and our heart is 'offended' by something and subsequently turned against those we're connected with in the faith. As Jesus said, we are quickly approaching a time when we in all likelihood will either be the betrayed or the betrayers. If we are deeply anchored in "the love of God [that] is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost," we will remain true to those who are in the faith with us. If we have been negligent in the most important arena in our lives, that same love will "wax cold," and we will fail the test (Rom. 5:5). I don't know about you, but I believe that the reward for remaining faithful till the end is going to be so much better than what we have yet imagined, that it will be worth simply whatever it takes to attain unto it. "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (I Cor. 2:9). Me, I want to be where David and Ruth are at. Amen.