2022-04-10
Matthew 12:34 NCV
When Mary Southerland came down with a raging fever, her doctor suspected viral meningitis. “How long have you had the solid white coating on your tongue?” he asked. Mary was puzzled. Why did that matter? The doctor continued, “The health of the tongue is a very strong indicator of the health of the entire body.”
And spiritually speaking, the same principle applies. “The mouth speaks the things that are in the heart. Good people have good things in their hearts… so they say good things… evil people have evil in their hearts, so they say evil things” (vv. 34-35 NCV). The problem isn’t the tongue itself; it’s more serious. The problem lies in your heart, your attitude, your outlook, and your temperament.
Southerland continues: “The tongue is a spiritual thermometer that reflects the condition of the heart… Words are power tools that can build… encourage… destroy and cause confusion. We have all been hurt and even defeated by words spoken in anger or words rising out of a wounded heart… If my words are boastful, my heart is insecure. If my words are filthy, my heart is impure and if my words are critical, my heart is filled with pride and anger…
Solomon said, ‘A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver’ (Proverbs 25:11 KJV)… The right word, spoken at the right time and in the right way can bring order in the midst of confusion and light on a very dark path. ‘Good people know the right thing to say’ (Proverbs 10:32 NCV). God gives us spiritual ‘radar’ so we can assess a situation and speak the right word for that circumstance. We just need to check the ‘radar screen’ before we speak.”
Soul food: Matt 21:1-16; Ps 118:19-29
2022-04-09
Ezekiel 36:26 NIV
When you have been hurt, it’s easy to put up barriers. But be careful – a protective shell can turn into a “heart of stone”: resistant, unreceptive, impenetrable even to God.
One Christian author writes: “The only thing more painful, and with… more serious ramifications than a broken heart, is a frozen one… Paul warns us [about]… allowing our hearts to harden. ‘They are darkened in their understanding… separated from the life of God… due to… hardening of their hearts’ (Ephesians 4:18 NIV). A soft heart is not weak or naive. To the contrary, wisdom, experience, and faith make for a strong heart, weathered by compassion and seasoned with mercy. A hardened heart is not protected, it’s merely encased in injury, and it is painfully obvious to everyone but you…
After a weekend that felt like one painful test after another, I called my best friend in tears. ‘Why won’t this end? How strong does God want me to be? I can’t take it anymore!’ Being a godly woman… she replied, ‘Perhaps it’s the other way around. You have been strong enough. God wants your heart to be soft and open.’ I hadn’t thought of it that way.
In response to heartbreak, betrayal, or shame, it is… easy to develop a heart of stone. We think this will protect us from… more pain. The problem with stone is… it feels nothing – no pain, but no love. It is a trap that feels like self-preservation, but it is actually self-destruction. [God] wants to give you a heart of flesh. With His love you can emerge from a painful season of loss with a heart that is yielding, porous, and ready to receive the gifts He has… for you.”
Soul food: Lev 15-17; Luke 22:54-62; Ps 25:1-7; Pro 10:1
Ezekiel 36:26 NIV
When we’ve been hurt, it’s natural that we’d try to put up barriers to protect ourselves. But we need to be careful that our protective shell doesn’t turn into a ‘heart of stone’ that’s resistant, unmoved, and doesn’t even let God in.
Author Kristen Armstrong writes: ‘The only thing more painful, and with… more serious ramifications than a broken heart, is a frozen one…. Paul warns us [about] allowing our hearts to harden. “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts” (Ephesians 4:18 NIV). A soft heart is not weak or naive. To the contrary, wisdom, experience, and faith make for a strong heart, weathered by compassion and seasoned with mercy. A hardened heart is not protected, it’s merely encased in injury.’
A hardened heart makes us immune to God’s promptings. We lose compassion for the needs He’s trying to show us. We miss opportunities to make a difference in the lives of those around us because our hardened hearts won’t allow us to be moved by feelings of sympathy. We can’t empathise with those who are hurting. God softens our hearts with love.
He might allow us to go through a season of testing, and while we may see it as nothing but a struggle, He sees it as an opportunity to break through the heart of stone and replace it with one that’s pliant, tender, and ready to respond to Him. Kristen continues: ‘[God] wants to give you a heart of flesh. With His love you can emerge from a painful season of loss with a heart that is yielding, porous, and ready to receive the gifts He has… for you.’
Lev 15 -17; Luke 22:54-62; Ps 25:1-7; Pro 10:1
Esegiël 36:26 ABA
Wanneer jy seerkry, is dit maklik om verskansings op te rig. Wees egter versigtig – ‘n beskermende muur kan in ‘n ‘klip-hart’ verander: wederstrewig, ondeurdringbaar en onontvanklik; selfs vir God.
Een Christenskrywer merk op: ‘Die enigste ding wat pynliker, met ernstiger gevolge, as ‘n gebroke hart is, is ‘n verharde hart. Paulus waarsku ons daarteen om toe te laat dat ons harte verhard: ‘…hulle is ver van God en hulle het nie die ware lewe nie omdat hulle niks van God wil weet nie. Hulle harte is so hard soos klip’ (Efesiërs 4:18 ABA).
‘n Sagte hart is nie swak of naïef nie. Inteendeel, wysheid, ervaring en geloof versterk ‘n hart wat deur deernis verweer en deur barmhartigheid besaai is. Na ‘n week wat soos een pynlike toets op die volgende gevoel het, het ek my beste vriendin in trane gebel. ‘Hoekom eindig dit nie? Hoe sterk wil God hê ek moet wees? Ek kan dit nie langer vat nie!’ Sy het uit haar Godgegewe wysheid geantwoord: ‘Miskien is dit andersom. Jy was nou vir lank sterk genoeg. God wil hê dat jou hart sag en oop moet wees.’
Ek het nie so daaraan gedink nie. Dis maklik om ‘n klip-hart in reaksie op hartseer, verraad of skande te ontwikkel. Ons dink dat dit ons van nog pyn sal beskerm. Die probleem met klip is egter dat dit niks voel nie – nie pyn nie, maar ook nie liefde nie. Dit is ‘n strik wat soos selfbehoud voel, maar inderwaarheid selfvernietigend is. God wil vir jou ‘n hart van vleis gee. Met sy liefde kan jy aan die einde van ‘n pynlike seisoen van verlies met ‘n hart wat toegewyd en gereed is vir die gawes wat Hy vir jou wil gee, na vore kom.’
Sielskos: Lev 15-17; Luk 22:54-62; Ps 25:1-7; Spr 10:1
2022-04-08
John 9:4 NKJV
Like the rest of us, Jesus sometimes got tired (see John 4:6). But He was never stressed out by the job He had to do. He was led, but never driven. He knew what needed to be done and the amount of time needed to do it, and He picked a team to help accomplish it. Three of them – Peter, James, and John – were in His inner circle. It wasn’t that He showed favouritism; He just recognised the particular gifts of the people He worked with and what He needed from each of them to get the job done.
An important step towards accomplishing something big is knowing the kinds of people we’ll need around us. In other words, we need to know who should be on our team. Jesus spent three-and-a-half years training His disciples before delegating responsibility to them. Was He afraid they would make mistakes, outshine Him, or make Him look bad? No; He told them, ‘He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father’ (John 14:12 NKJV).
Jesus was a team player who got things done through others. But even when we break a task down, strategically plan it, and recruit brilliant people, we need one more component to succeed: teamwork! Teamwork is the glue that brings people together – and keeps them together. There are more than a billion Christians in the world today. And it all started two thousand years ago with one man who had a vision, a man who recruited and trained a team to fulfil that vision. Let’s approach our work according to His work philosophy and see the difference it can make.
Lev 13:38-14:57; Luke 22:39-53; Ps 4; Pro 9:13-18
