Hebrews 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
When the Bible says something is a "good thing" then I want to know what it is! Goodness knows we have enough to fight and deal with on a normal day, so if there is something good to be had, I want it! Don't you?
Well, the Bible says it is a good thing if our hearts are established with grace. I studied this verse out a little and found that the writer of Hebrews was talking to the Jews about the observation of unclean and clean meats instead of realizing Jesus had been our sacrifice and now their duty was towards Him and accepting His gift of grace and mercy.
You and I may not be swayed by the thoughts of the Old Testament Law, but we can be swayed by today's wrong teaching if we aren't careful. God wants our hearts. He wants them established in what He has done for us and if we are stable, then we won't be in turmoil about how to live and act.
I have lived long enough now to see that many times my heart has absolutely not been established by grace. I have clung to rules, traditions and performance much tighter at times than I ever have just God and God alone. Honestly, I have struggled in this area because I have an independent spirit that wants to "do" something with my life and yet, I have a very tender heart when it comes to preaching and I want to go to the altar and change something every time I listen to a good sermon. There is nothing wrong with being tender, but there is something wrong if I am not stable in the decisions I have already made concerning God having my heart!
Just so we are clear, I am not talking about standards like dress or music etc. I will leave that to your own family and husband's leadership. I am talking about your heart and what rules it. This is really important if we are going to get to know God better.
I wake up in the morning and the first thought I have about God is that I want to please Him with my life that day. Yes, I get up and let the dogs out, make coffee, say hello to my kitchen mouse, but then I am thinking about my Bible, God, my sin, aggravation with my flesh and how to make today better than yesterday spiritually speaking. I believe that is the right path to being established in grace in my heart. But what knocks me off of that path is when I look at facebook and some other missionary family who seems to have it all together and their ministry appears to be thriving more than ours. Or, I read a book and think, wow, this person has already written and published a book and they are my age, what have I done for the Lord? I will read another blog and wonder if I even know anything about God at all because this other lady sure knows how to explain Scripture better than I do. And pretty soon, I am no longer wrapped in the comfortable embrace of the grace of God in my life, but I am all tangled up in the lust of my flesh for more, the pride in my life for more, and lusting to read more about others to prove to God how lame I really am through self abasing. Grace? What grace? My heart begins to weaken and another day is on its way to being lost.
In thinking about Hebrews 13:9, I have come to the realization that God wants me to have a stable heart. He thinks it is a good thing for me as His child. So, the question is, how to stabilize my heart? I am to think about God and God alone. Not what the world says, not what a book says, not what religion says, but how God has revealed Himself to me in HIS Word.
1. He said I should lay aside sin that easily besets me. - Okay, so I could list here: anger, insecurity, pride, jealously, anger, cheesecake :) and oh yes, anger! lol (Hey, you have your besetting sins....I have mine...don't make me angry about it! ha ha) Let's be honest and set those things aside. Tell God you want Him to have your heart today and you don't want it ruled by all the other junk.
2. He said I should look to Jesus who is the beginning and end of my faith. - Okay, so that means I set my goal today to look upward. Not at the fact someone was rude to me, not at the fact someone was mean to one of my kids, not at the fact that someone criticized my prayer letter, (oops, anger is creeping into my post!) I am to look towards Jesus. And you know what I see? A tender, loving, compassionate God that accepts me with my flaws and wants to help me right them! (warm gooshy feeling begins overriding the anger or discontent immediately)
3. He says I should not run every which way after every doctrine and new fangled sermon, but claim my spot in His grace. Where is my spot? In Lages. I am Mark's wife, first and foremost. That's my job. I meet his needs. Then I am Katie, Wyatt, Amelia and Sam's mom. I am to mother them in the right way. I am Terry and Sharon's daughter, I am to honor them. I am a missionary and there I serve as a mouthpiece for the Lord. Not how someone else is a wife, mom, daughter or missionary, but how God has led me, taught me and nurtured me in His Word.
Are you grasping at pleasing and performing today instead of being stable in His grace? Stop. Come back to the foundation of salvation.....grace. Jesus has taken care of everything for you to be God's child, now it is your part in history to let Him have your heart. He promises not to leave it, not to forsake it and to work a work in you that HE wants. Don't go looking for something more perfect than Jesus because such a thing doesn't exist.
Remember, just offer God your heart. He will keep you in the way you should go during the day and that is a GOOD THING!
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:20-21
Until next time, Lord willing!
Sheri
No comments:
Post a Comment