The Disease of the Heart – Part 2
Mt. 15:19 – ‘For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality…’
If yesterday we looked at ‘anger’ and ‘guilt’, today we’ll discover 2 more threats to our heart. And the third one is ‘jealousy’. ‘Jealousy’ says that, ‘God owes me…’ Often than not, we are so ‘eaten up’ either by others’ accomplishments, skills and talents, charisma, and we blame God for it. Jealousy imprisoned us by what others have. The only cure to jealousy is to celebrate what others have. To celebrate what others have is a scary thing, because it might mean that we acknowledge that others are better, more gifted, and more talented than us in certain areas. Yet to celebrate what others have frees us to move on and develop what we already have.
The last one is ‘greed’. And ‘greed’ says, ‘I owe me…’ This is very scary yet so subtle because no one right of the bet would ever admit having ‘greed’ in their hearts. Yet ‘greed’ creeps in so unnoticeably to our hearts that turns everything and anything to ourselves. And we say to ourselves, ‘I deserve this…’ or ‘I deserve more than this…’ This is dangerous because we’re all ultimately are rewarded by God whom alone is the ultimate judge and rewarder of all. And the remedy for greed is simply to give generously. Not just give, but give generously.
So what threatens your healthy heart? We all have to deal with issues that we rather not talk about or bring to the surface. But for the sake of our hearts, we have to come to grips with the reality of the real threats that could ruin our hearts before God.
If yesterday we looked at ‘anger’ and ‘guilt’, today we’ll discover 2 more threats to our heart. And the third one is ‘jealousy’. ‘Jealousy’ says that, ‘God owes me…’ Often than not, we are so ‘eaten up’ either by others’ accomplishments, skills and talents, charisma, and we blame God for it. Jealousy imprisoned us by what others have. The only cure to jealousy is to celebrate what others have. To celebrate what others have is a scary thing, because it might mean that we acknowledge that others are better, more gifted, and more talented than us in certain areas. Yet to celebrate what others have frees us to move on and develop what we already have.
The last one is ‘greed’. And ‘greed’ says, ‘I owe me…’ This is very scary yet so subtle because no one right of the bet would ever admit having ‘greed’ in their hearts. Yet ‘greed’ creeps in so unnoticeably to our hearts that turns everything and anything to ourselves. And we say to ourselves, ‘I deserve this…’ or ‘I deserve more than this…’ This is dangerous because we’re all ultimately are rewarded by God whom alone is the ultimate judge and rewarder of all. And the remedy for greed is simply to give generously. Not just give, but give generously.
So what threatens your healthy heart? We all have to deal with issues that we rather not talk about or bring to the surface. But for the sake of our hearts, we have to come to grips with the reality of the real threats that could ruin our hearts before God.
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