June 2020

What is Your Heart Full of?

Out of the Abundance of the Heart

From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. A good man brings good things from a good heart. An evil man brings evil things from an evil heart. Matthew 12:34b-35

Men, again, Jesus speaks in binary terms. Before we can move forward in agreement, we must ask; who decides what is good? How do we define “good”? How do we qualify, validate or affirm “good”? We’d all get car sick spinning around the revolving wheel of relativity if we looked around us for an answer. Let’s agree to look up to Heaven and into His Word for absolute truth from a vantage above creation.

The Pharisees are at odds with Jesus and expressing hostility toward Him. They know the Law, but they don’t recognize the author. Psalms 119 is rich in what it means to align our hearts to the source of good treasure. From the beginning, a wealth of lessons pour out. “Blessed are those who keep His testimony, who seek Him with the whole heart.”

The Pharisees didn’t seek Him. They sought enough “word” to maintain a posture of religious authority for personal and political gain. They knew much about rules, legislation, and condemnation, but little about seeking Him with the whole heart.

The Pharisees were captives of their own hierarchies. The Lord told the captives through Jeremiah 29:13. “When you seek Me with your whole heart, you will find Me.” The Pharisees aren’t ready to seek Him. They are seeking their own self-righteousness. Is there any good in the treasury of self-righteousness? History has seen horrible atrocities committed from self-righteous hearts. What will be spoken of us?

Move forward men, Psalm 119:9-15. Cleansing our ways by taking head to His Word; Seeking Him with the whole heart without wandering from His commands. Let’s hide His Word in our hearts so we don’t sin against Him. Let’s learn from His statutes and declare His judgments with our mouths. Rejoice in His testimonies as much as in all riches. Meditate on His Word and don’t forget it. Psalm 119:18 – open our eyes Lord to the wonders of Your Law.

Vance Durrance

White Robes

“Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments…” –Revelation 3:4-5a

“And yet there was a salt in it, or it would have been rotten as well as dead,” (MacLaren’s Expositions). We do not know the value of living men among the dead, and what mercy they bring to a community which might be discarded if not for their preserving presence (Eze 22:30). And if you find yourself in such a position, take heart. Jesus is not just aware of the number of faceless subject, He knows your name. So there is a great reward for those “who have not soiled their garments,” who have not defiled themselves by idolatrous sin (1Co 8:7).

Sardis was known for its wool production and its dyes (especially red). Dyes and chemicals are often used to cover blemishes. But covering our sins does not remove them. Our pretty dyes may deceive the world and make ourselves presentable to them, but God is not impressed. Only God provides the garments necessary to enter the Kingdom (Mat 22:11-14). And we cannot earn them. To even attempt this is to make a god in our own image and serve it—which is idolatry.

Yet for those who trust in Christ, we will receive new garments of pure white (Rev 6:11; 7:9). Not blank and colorless, but the bright and illustrious dress of the heavenly state. Since we are united in the likeness of His resurrection (Rom 6:5), we will be clothed in the appearance of our King and model (Rev 1:13; 19:14). “We will be like Him” (1Jo 3:2). Although there is a huge difference between deity and creation, the chasm of separation between God and His image bearers is removed. Jesus is the perfect man—what man should have been and will be. Therefore, our future appearance mirrors His.

So why is this a comfort? What might we be missing if this does not trigger within us a desire for these future robes?

Billy Neal

House Divided

But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? —Matthew 12:25-26 NKJV

Men, Jesus knew the thoughts of the Pharisees, who had grumbled that Jesus had recently relieved a man of a demon by the power of the ruler of demons. It already sounds absurd, so Jesus answered. A kingdom, city or house divided against itself can not stand. So if anti-Christ casts out anti-Christ, he is divided against himself.

Empires of heavenly, earthly or below, civics, marriages, even our own hearts are all subject to this simple concept. Working backwards through the list, homes divided in themselves end in divorce and bitterness. Local magistrates against themselves turn to lawlessness and dysfunction. Kingdoms against themselves end in civil war, all of which are costly in terms of resources and lives ruined.

A horse cannot be driven in two directions at once. There would be immediate conflict with the animal, but this is exactly what the Pharisees are claiming. The enemy has employed this tactic of turning a home or territory against itself for all time.

While Adam and Eve were in the garden, they shared their dwelling with the Lord God with unity and perfect peace. When the garden became divided, all of mankind fell thereafter.

America has incrementally devolved into a 2 party system. Each side against the other with the singular focus of destroying the opposing camp. While the camps bicker and recruit we are weakened and disabled from succeeding in any meaningful goal. While the world hurls accusations at an apparent opposing party, who is smiling? Who is lifted up? Who is winning? What is being lost? In your home, church, business, or affiliations who is winning/smiling?

At the end, all will be amassed into 2 camps. That of the enemy and that of the Lord. Is your pride at war with Jesus in your own heart? Who will win? What will that look like at the end?

Move forward men, considering THIS DAY, who will we serve? Where will the division end for us? Where will we stand among our sphere of influence? Incorruptible Jesus or all else that is perishing?

Vance Durrance