This blog post is in response to my last one about "Walking with God is a matter of the heart" I spent a good time talking about the matters of the heart and how important it is to focus on the heart when dealing with the issue of building "bridges" to bring the gospel to non believers.
I shared some of the points I highlighted on the post with a fellow brother in Christ. He agreed with all that I said, but I noticed his hesitation and so I inquired. His fear with focusing so much with the heart is that it could lead to losing focus on Scripture. I will have to be honest, I needed some time to reflect on this important and justifiable concern. How much of the issues of the heart is too much, steering us away from focusing on the Word of God? Some may argue that the Word of God is powerful and sufficient enough to open the heart to Christ, without having to focus so much on building relationships and working on the matters of the heart. PLEASE NOTE: the power of the Word of God is indescribable, unmeasurable, and without limits!!! The Word of God is always present, but before Scripture comes alive to an unwilling heart, the Word of God must first be demonstrated to a non believer.
After prayer and honest reflection, this is my response.
Think of this analogy. Christ standing at the door of a heart and He is knocking. The non believers heart has a door, but ALSO heavy duty chains on it, a master lock on the knob, and the key is no where to be found. Even if the heart hears the knock, the chains are too many and too twisted to remove. The love, trust and relationship equity invested by a Christian in the non believing heart slowly removes theses chains... one by one.... and what is the actual key to the door? The Holy Spirit! Once the chains are removed (that is our job as Christians!), the Lord uses the Holy Spirit key to finally unlock the door. How can the Word of God and truth of Scripture dwell IN the heart if the door is closed? ONCE the door is finally opened, it is THEN when Scripture resonates there. Maybe I am wrong and maybe as I continue to grow and mature in faith, maybe my perspective will change... But until then, I believe that we need to work with the heart through love, relationships, trust and demonstrating Christ... to remove all the chains and to set the heart FREE! The heart changes, but the Word of God in Scripture never does!!!! So, we do not have to worry about jeopardizing Scripture, because a free heart IN Christ will be able to truly let the Word of God come in and take refuge there for eternity.
Some may argue, the Word of God in Scripture is sufficient and powerful enough to break through the chains and the door.... Hmmmmm Is it not the power of the Holy Spirit that actually "makes" the Word of God in Scripture come alive? Without the Holy Spirit first opening the door of the heart, to a non believer, Scripture in the Bible is merely "Christian doctrine."Yes! The Word of God is powerful indeed!!! but it is the Holy Spirit that makes the Word of God come alive.... so it is love, relationships and Christianity being demonstrated that first slowly removes the callous that is formed on the heart... then the Holy Spirit opens the door and then the Word of God is ignited and dwells in the heart! This is not a step by step process of course! but I am merely trying to paint a simplified picture from my experience.
Believe in this picture. A Christian helps take down these chains as a loyal servant of God... then Jesus unlocks the door with the key of the Holy Spirit and opens the door as He turns back and says "Well done my loyal servant." and He and the power of the Holy Spirit BURST through the door and a life is forever changed. The Kingdom has just added another child of God....and all of heaven shouts with cheers of joy!!!!! What a privilege we have.
I often use the word "SOLDIER" in my posts. That is EXACTLY what scripture calls us. We are Christ's soldiers and ambassadors, so we must expect to face suffering and for the world to hate us. "SHARE IN SUFFERING AS A GOOD SOLDIER OF CHRIST JESUS. NO SOLDIER GETS ENTANGLED IN CIVILIAN PURSUITS, SINCE HIS AIM IS TO PLEASE THE ONE WHO ENLISTED HIM" - 2 TIMOTHY 2:3-4 Love this!! Christ is our commander and we are His soldiers and when we were enlisted in the body of Christ, He expects us to accomplish the mission with FULL endurance and strength.
I trust and place my hope in this......
Let me see..... I can actually USE SCRIPTURE to prove this point..........
Excellent comments, and also your prior post about matter of the heart! In response to the concern about neglecting the Word to attend to matters of the heart and relationships, to be perfectly honest we must turn the concern around – can we devote so much attention to the intellectual pursuit of the Word that we neglect matters of the heart to our own detriment? Proverbs 4:23; Hebrews 3:10, 12; 1Timothy 1:5.
ReplyDeleteWho says we must choose between Word and heart? Indeed, it is impossible to do so because they are inseparable. To suggest otherwise is failure to understand the purpose and message of the Gospel. Our obedience to the truth is what results in being able to love from a pure heart. And where does this obedience to Truth take place? In the heart – Romans 10:9.
Your thoughts about chains of darkness and needing to penetrate the heart is the same as the Apostle gives in relationship to his beloved Israel – 2Corinthians 3:15. They had a veil over their heats – not their minds.
Our heart is established with grace, not intellectual knowledge, Hebrews 13:9. If it were otherwise, there would have been no need for the Christ to come. We are of ourselves incapable of “figuring it out.” We need a new heart, just as Jeremiah and Ezekiel foresaw centuries ago – Jeremiah 24:7; 29:13; Ezekiel 11:9.
Good job!
Thank you for your comment! Thank you for your further Bible verses that connect to my discussion topic. Awesome!
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