The Condition of the Heart

The religious person feels justified in keeping the commandments and doing all the right things to please God and man. But in contrast to what we read in the Old Testament, we see Jesus changing the rules in the New Testament. In the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5, Jesus emphasizes how it is the condition of the heart that pleases God, rather than outward acts alone. Jesus says, “Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

The sixth commandment in Deuteronomy 5:17, is “Do not commit murder”; but Jesus clarifies, “I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Fool!’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You moron!’ will be subject to hellfire….” (HCSV). So we see that with God, it is the condition of the heart that is plain before Him. He is more pleased with our relationships to one another than our offering sacrifices of praise and prayer to Him with an unforgiving heart.

In reading 1 John, we are reminded that love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. “The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (4:7-8). Furthermore...

God’s love was revealed among us in this way; God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (sacrifice) for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us (4:9-12).

This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given to us from His Spirit. And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God--God remains in him and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him (4:13-16).

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me and sending your Son, Jesus, to be my Savior. Help me to see that you love me unconditionally. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, and help me to forgive and love others you have placed in my life. In the name of Jesus, I pray. -Amen.

Godly Character

I was encouraged by the letter from Paul to the believers in Corinth. He reminds them that we are to not be a stumbling block to others, or to allow circumstances to alter our faith in God. Whether in the good times or the bad, God asks for our all.

"But in everything, as God's ministers, we commend ourselves: by great endurance, by afflictions, by hardship, by pressures, by beatings, by imprisonments, by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights, by times of hunger, by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the message of truth, by the power of God; through weapons of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, through glory and dishonor, through slander and good report; as deceivers yet true; as unknown yet recognized; as dying and look--we live; as being chastened yet not killed; as grieving yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing yet possessing everything."

 Lord, please stir in us the Holy Spirit and help us to develop a godly character. Strengthen us to serve you in gladness and to not lose hope. -Amen.

Treasuring God's Word

I have imported some personal reflections from another blog I started and abandoned. It is a collection of daily bible study to build up my faith and encourage others. The idea for this entry came from reading Psalm 1, a reminder to me and my family that we should be meditating on God's Word day and night. So then, why? Here are a few reasons from the Old and New Testaments.

1. To educate myself and my family. 

In Deuteronomy, Chapters 5-6, Moses reminds the Israelites that they were rescued from the hands of Pharaoh in Egypt and instructed to fear the Lord, so that they would enjoy prosperity and preservation despite their enemies. They were instructed to not turn aside from the commandments of God, to not turn to the right or the left, so that they might live, prosper, and have a long life in the land they were promised to possess. Concerning God's commandments, they were told to...

“Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:7).

2. To take the road less traveled, the road to obedience and righteousness.

In the first chapter of Psalms, King David contrasts the two ways that a man can take in life, the way of the righteous, or the way of the wicked.

“How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path of sinners, or join the group of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

“The wicked are not like this; instead they are like chaff that the wind blows away…they will not survive judgment, and sinners will not be in the community of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin” (Psalm 1).

3.  To be equipped for every good work.

In 2 Timothy, Paul reminds Timothy to not be ashamed of the Gospel, to be loyal to the faith, and to be a worker approved by God, capable of correctly teaching the Scriptures. In Chapter 3, Paul warns that there will be difficult days ahead, when people will be corrupt and lack understanding; however, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (v. 16).


So it is my desire to be obedient in this task, to be faithful to reading and applying these truths to my life and to be a positive role model for my children and family and friends.

May we be blessed with understanding, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to apply God's Word to our hearts and minds, in the name of Jesus, we pray. -Amen.