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| The Christian Heart The Center of All Goodness and House of the Spirit |
Christ did not save humanity from its sins to condemn us for our continual struggles against sin. He saved us because we could not save ourselves. So he would either step in to save us, or we would all perish. Thank the Father for His son then, because He chose to save us! Christ took on the human body and physically entered human history, where he literally became a man and lived the life of a wandering rabbi to call humanity to follow him, then to be brutally murdered at our own hands because he loved us. Did he go through all of this effort simply to condemn us all whenever we fall short and sin? The answer is an obvious, No! Christians today slog around with their head slinking low carrying with them this sullen "I'm a dirty sinner" mentality. It is very good that they understand they are saved by grace, it is indeed, as that is the first part of the walk with Christ that Christians have to learn: Forgiveness by grace.
Yet I am faced with the inevitable conclusion that they still feel like they need to live with a guilt complex, and this is purely antichrist, a tool of the devil to break our spirits by breaking our hearts, the center of all that is good, for how can a Christian have faith in a God for forgiveness when they face an onslaught of guilt and shame the rest of their lives? This is not what Christ wanted, but instead, the spiritual warfare we endure from the Evil One tinkers in our mind and deposits subtle philosophies, all of which include this absurd notion that Christians should feel like dirty sinners even after they are reborn into Christ. "How can God love me when I sin so much?" "How can I love God when I fail him so?” "I'll never make it to heaven like this, I must try harder!" The list of things people think in their minds goes on, and I believe that all of them are evil thoughts.
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| This does not look like a God who wants to judge you. It looks like a God who died to save you. Stop this foolish thinking that you are a dirty sinner, because you were made holy with his blood. Literally. Feeling as you do now does not honor his sacrifice for you. |
You cannot stop sinning, for if you could then you would not need a savior. This is a wicked thought, as it encourages you to try harder, when it was never about you stopping, it was about loving the Christ who saved you. God loves you in your sin, he cares only that you are with him and nothing else. The love he showers over you will help you in your journey with him, and when you say to yourself that God can't love you when you sin or that you cannot love God and sin, those are evil thoughts to break your connection with the Christ who lived and died for you BECAUSE you are a sinner, and because he knew before you were born that you would die without him there to save you. Christ did not live and die for you to save you only to bear your shoulders down with unbearable guilt and shame whenever you sin. This does not sound like forgiveness, does it? It sounds like punishment. And since the gift of life is free, you must fight those evil thoughts, because Christ does not sit on his throne judging us all harshly with punishments dealt out in the form of guilt and shame. Think of it, he came to die on the Earth to save us, and offer us the free gift of life and forgiveness, in what line of thought does it make sense to hunker us down with shame and guilt? The Evil One put this in your mind, and you must fight those thoughts away.
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The heart you have is good and holy and the heart is the center of all that is good, and in fact, as John Eldredge is also emphatic about the heart being good in his book Waking the Dead, I too, am convinced.
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Sin is in our hearts, and we know that God does not dwell in sinful places, yet it says the Holy Spirit dwells within our hearts:
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| Christ is definitely in control. He spoke the entire universe into existence, why would he create us lesser beings to hate us all our lives? The answer is obvious...he didn't! He created us to learn faith and love through our trials. |
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?"
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Ezekiel 36:26-27
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."
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When we accept Christ, we are also accepting a new heart and a new, pure spirit, both capable of housing this Holy Spirit, our great Counselor. So how can Christians believe that the heart is evil? Christ bought all the sins of humanity on that cross, and when he was resurrected, death and punishment of sins were destroyed. Our hearts are not evil because the sin that resides in them was atoned for, and this is how Christ saved humanity, for the good in our hearts is made in the image of the heart of the One True God.
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Mark 10:46-53
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
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Remember always that although you are a sinner, that you might even commit the same sins over and over, but each time you come to Christ feeling sorry for your sins, it is up to you to let go of those awful emotions and have faith that Christ died for you as a sinner. This was never supposed to be an easy ride, when in fact it's actually a ride you will never win. You will never stop sinning, and you will most likely sin over and over the same silly sins until you die, and each time you feel sorry and ask Christ to forgive you, then your own faith has healed you. And remember...your heart is not only good, but it is made holy every time you come to Christ for forgiveness. Praise God, and be healed, and for heaven's sake let go of all the guilt. You'll never learn to love Christ with all that shame knocking you down.
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7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding; [This is what faith is all about!]
and lean not on your own understanding; [This is what faith is all about!]
9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war. ”
BE FREE IN SALVATION AND GRACE!
AMEN!!
