The Heart

Have you heard the saying "Follow Your Heart"? That's the stuff of fairy tails and nightmares. Your heart can lead you into places you never ment to go and into things you didn't want to do. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that your heart can't tell you good things. It can, but we can convince ourselves in our hearts that anything is OK and right. What does your heart want? To whom is it submitted?

Do you have "if onlys" in you life? Like if only I had this then my life would be complete. Just as we get what we thought we needed the rules change and there is something new that we need. It's a never ending cycle.

In the Garden on Eden, Adam and Eve enjoyed a standing invitation of open access to God. All their needs were met. They had no hunger, stress, sickness, bills, demands... What are some of the things that you deal with that they didn't have to? They didn't sin because of their demanding circumstances or need. Sin is not the product of what we have or don't have. It is a product of the heart. "The heart is deceitful above all things." Jeremiah 17:9 The heart can easily buy into satan's lies.

Nothing is more misleading than an unsanctified, rebellious, or lost heart. For this reason God continually warns us through the Bible for us to give Him our whole heart. Here are some examples:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" Deuteronomy 6:5
"Acknowledge the God of your Father and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and thought." 1 Chronicles 28:9
"As water reflects the face, so one's life reflects the heart" Proverbs 27:19
"For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" Matthew 12:34b
"Good people bring good things out of the good stored in their heart, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" Luke 6:45
These are just a few places in the Bible the heart is mentioned. Do a search and look up other verses and study them. Are you seeing a pattern?

So enter Noah...Adam and Eve lived in the most ideal circumstances, but still choose sin and disobedience. Noah lived where depravity ruled and people followed every evil thought without restraint. He made right choices and was righteous and blameless. "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God" Genesis 6:8&9

What was the difference? The difference is Noah walked with God in his heart. Heart change doesn't come form a one time commitment or far away thoughts of God. It comes from the constant state of fellowship with God. Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute...

The deliberate act of will is the inevitable choice between habitual fellowship or habitual failure. Our culture surrounds us with every conceivable practice of sin and the continual mockery of God. We can be victorious only if we walk with God and give Him our whole heart. There is no place more safe. The choice is your daily, hourly, momentarily... What will your choice be? Who will you serve?

Athena
SaltBox