What's Your Heart Telling You?
Rev. John R. Greene
20th century people are intrigued with romance. Our music, no matter what decade you are from deals with romance. Our songs clearly define our thoughts about romance. Our slogans in advertisements tell us how important romance is to out culture. Romance comes from the heart. If you take a survey across this nation, you'll find that a vast majority know that our heart defines our love for things and people. It's from the heart that out women get all giggly and goo goo eyed for their men. Yes, the United States is mesmerized with romance. The TV, our novels all detail our fanaticism for romance.
"You have ravished my heart." "How much better than wine is your love." "My dove, my perfect one, is the only one." "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." "Many waters can not quench love, nor can the floods drown it." All these quotes come from the NKJV and The Song of Solomon. The Bible is clearly a romantic Book, too! The Bible tells of His love for us sparing no detail. Does God's love come from His heart? But what about our hearts? What does your heart tell you? Or let me ask it this way, "Can you trust what your heart is saying to you?"
The Bible encourages us to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh! The heart is feeling. The heart lacks wisdom and godly desire to obey His Word. Yet the heart wants to be told what to do!? The heart will then respond back with emotions that "seem so right" so "how could they be so wrong". The heart receives instructions from our spirit or from our flesh. When we are in church, when are reading His Word daily, when we are praying daily, and when we are obedient to God, then we are walking in His Spirit and our spirit passes on His control to our heart. The other choice is when we let the flesh tell us what to do. This is the problem. No good thing is in the flesh!!
In Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (NKJV), God makes clear how the heart wants to appear as the originator of truth and control our lives, but is only able to lead us into sin. The heart receives its commands from the flesh which is wicked and makes our hearts wicked. This is the master-hold of sin. Romans tells us that sin deceives us, and every-thing that is from the flesh is sin. Because of our heart, we are addicted to sin. This is why adultery is okay today. This is why sex outside of marriage is okay today. This is why homosexuality is okay today. Our romantic hearts have deceived us!! Sin is okay today.
But wait a minute! God has a good Word for us!! In Jeremiah 17:7,8a it says, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,..." Walk in God's hope and His Word. Plant yourself in a church where the Word is taught and preached. Don't trust your heart, trust the Lord! Amen! Be the tree planted and rooted at God's river of life. Have a blessed day!
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