THE CONDITION OF THE HEART

Christian Times Magazine issue 65 | Monthly Magazine page 45

By Sandra Sommerfrucht

At one time in my life, I posted every fruit of the Spirit on my mirror because my desire was to examine myself to see what level of love, what amount of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control I had in my life. I would look at the mirror and, running through each fruit of the spirit, ask myself questions about how I measured up the day before and how I would increase in each fruit that very day.

Self-examination is an important activity if we really want to gain ground in His kingdom and please the Lord. That is my greatest desire! The Book of James, Chapter 1, verse 25, warns us that “if we only listen to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, we are like men who look carefully at our own natural faces in a mirror, then walk off forgetting what we were like.” But James 1:25 goes on to say that “if we look carefully into the faultless law and are faithful to it, we are not heedless listeners who forget but active doers and will be blessed in our lives of obedience.” As the Lord assures us in James 1:22, we are to be doers of the Word and not just hearers, deceiving our very own selves. I used to tell my Bible students how important it is to read the Bible every day because you never know what might come back at you out of the mirror. The Word is a mirror that speaks; it is truly alive; it is Jesus, and He may have something He wants to say to you that day, something so important that it may save your lives. I know that from experience! One morning, as I was reading the Word, a proverb from the Book of Proverbs rose up into the air. The proverb actually flew off the page into the air; it was a

Christian Times Magazine issue 65 | Monthly Magazine rebuke from the Lord, and I knew exactly what He was saying to me. He was telling me I needed to be kinder to a very trying child. Will I ever forget that experience? Never! At this time in history, I want to add to my mirror this question: “What is the condition of my heart?” There is good reason why Proverbs 4: 23 says, “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” Just consider how important this commandment from the Lord is: He says to obey this imperative above all that you guard!

What are some of the things you guard? Very possibly, you guard your money, your home (even with a dog), your most precious possessions, and your family. I could go on and on, but what about your heart?

The Lord says it is more important to guard your heart than any of these things. He is considering our individual salvation in connection with our hearts. Each individual, He says, is responsible for his or her own heart, and if his heart is not in the right condition, he might be like the wicked servant who said to himself his master was delayed for a long time, so he began to beat his fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunken (Matthew 24:49). Jesus warns that “the master will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour of which he is not aware” and will punish him and put him with the pretenders where there is weeping and grinding of teeth (Matthew 24:50-51). If that servant had guarded his heart in spite of the Lord’s delay, he would have reaped the reward of being set over all the master’s possessions (Matthew 24:47).

What might the servant have allowed to enter into his heart? Certainly, there was doubt and unbelief that the master would ever return. Then, there was the attitude that he could get away with loose living—eating and drinking with the drunken. He obviously did not believe that everything is revealed to God (Luke 12:2), and that every word we speak is a word for which we are accountable (Matthew 12:36).

He began to beat his fellow servants; he had become violent in his heart, and he was acting out the violence that he had allowed to enter his heart. You see Matthew 12:34 tells us that “out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” If we watch movies with foul language,

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Christian Times Magazine issue 65 | Monthly Magazine we may allow those words to enter our hearts. God says, “Let no foul communication come out of your heart…. (Ephesians 4: 29); therefore, we should avoid movies with bad language. The springs of life that should flow out of our hearts might become springs of death once we have allowed our hearts to overflow with what God calls evil. What exactly are springs of life? How can we shower others with life-giving water? Might we speak kind words to someone who is hurting?

Can we help rebuild the house of a widow who is lacking the funds? May we counsel others with God’s good Word so that they will receive salvation for eternity?

Certainly, we become a spring of life when we develop God’s character in our lives (listed in Galatians 5:22-23)---by demonstrating the love we need to show to others, joy even in a hard time, peace that comes from God, patience that makes us stronger, kindness and goodness by giving ourselves to others, faithfulness to the very end, and selfcontrol that keeps our hearts from letting evil enter our hearts in the first place. David said in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.” We are living in times where there are many opportunities to lapse into a degenerative, corrupt condition, but we must hold fast to the very end because as the Lord says in Matthew 24:13, “…he who endures to the end will be saved.” His priorities and values must be our values, so we must read the Word, obey the Word, and be ready for the coming of the Lord. Above all, as He says, we must guard our hearts to keep out evil and to let flow out of us springs of life that are good and clean and life-giving.

The world looks very dark right now, but that is the time when our lights shine brightest. If our hearts are in good, even excellent, condition, others will see that we look and act like Jesus; the Lord will arise upon us, and His glory shall be seen on us, and nations will come to our light, and kings to the brightness of our rising (Isaiah 60:2-3).

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