Envision for a few minutes a beautifully crafted, yet old pocket watch. It looks like any other pocket watch, just much older. It has a carved case of silver and gold, delicate hands and a beautifully crafted face. It has a chain and all the requisite parts that are necessary for it to carry out its function as a reliable timepiece.
However, there is a problem with the watch. No matter how grand its appearance...it just won't run. It's basically a piece of worthless junk in its current condition. Why? It won't run because it has a problem with its core... you might think of a watch's core... as a heart. Inside the case, there is a spring, and that spring is the heart of the watch. That spring is essential to the proper operation of the watch as a timepiece. That spring, the heart of the watch, is defective. The heart of the problem with the watch, is a problem of the heart of the watch.
Sound familiar? Can you apply that analogy to people in God’s Church? Unfortunately, you can. There are plenty of people in the Church and in religious circles who are just like this watch. On the outside they look just fine. They appear to be religious and they do good things, but they cannot function as they were designed to function by their maker. They cannot truly worship God and bring glory to Him because they have a problem that cannot be readily seen by a mere surface inspection of their life. They have a problem that goes deep to their core... a problem with their heart!
Here’s the reality of this situation: No one knows who has a problem with their heart and who does not. We cannot truly determine who is redeemed and who is merely acting religious. In fact, I would suggest that a lot of so called Christians do not even know their own heart. Some may think they are redeemed, when in fact they are still mired in sin, leaning on their own understanding and tailoring their religion to suit their self-absorbed-self-centered lifestyle.
No one really knows your heart. I suppose for some, that’s a sense of security, albeit a false one, in knowing that others – fellow Christians, cannot really determine the content of your heart, the core of who you really are. You can fool people, but you can’t fool God. He knows all about what is inside each one of us. He knows what makes us tick!
Today, begins a series of articles on the Heart. We’re going to examine what the Bible tells us about our very essence, our hearts. We will look first to Jesus for counsel, (Matthew 15:1-20), especially His dialog with people who were suffering from heart trouble and didn't even know it. Jesus exposed the true nature of the hearts of those who thought they were religious. As He does, He also gives us some principles by which we can examine our own heart and determine if we may have a problem with it.
This series of articles is intended to challenge our personal perspective and our spiritual security. Don’t be disheartened... understanding who we really are, and where you are in your "walk with God" and knowing how to fix the problem of a defective heart, is a very good thing indeed. We’ll work our way to the heart of the problem.. and discover that God has a solution for us!
STAY TUNED for MORE next WEEK!
