AN OPPORTUNITY FOR HEART WORK THIS SUNDAY
This coming Sunday is a good day for some heart work to be done. Two things are conducive to making this happen for you. (1) Have a heart that is hungering and thirsting after righteousness (Matt. 5:6), and (2) Attend a church where Bible Truth is presented in an atmosphere where there is an unmistakable sense of reverence
Heart work is in progress wherever and whenever believers find themselves less and less inclined to “mind earthly things” and more and more inclined to “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Phil. 3:19; Col. 3:1). A growing affection for spiritual things, things associated with God, and an increasing disaffection for and aversion towards the things associated with this world is strong evidence of an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in and on our hearts (1 John 2:15-17).
Proverbs 4:23 Says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” This is huge! The spiritual condition of your heart and mine begins with our acceptance of personal reasonability for it, and our giving our personal attention to it. This can’t be delegated to a pastor or anybody else..
Personal responsibility for the care and upkeep off our own hearts is underscored in Philippians 2:12: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” This was written to Christian people, so it’s obviously not about works salvation. It’s about you and I maintaining the discipline and doing the “heavy lifting” so to speak that’s necessary if we want to save our lives in the sense of not wasting them on the affairs of this life, but making them count for Christ.
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:35,36). The previous verse makes it clear that this wasn’t said to lost people. It was said to the Lord’s disciples, and clarified what is expected of all those who follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior: “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (v. 34).
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