Skip to main content

good and bad heart


1 Thessalonians 3:13  NLT
May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen.

The heart is a vital part of our bodies.  In fact it is almost the most important part for the health and working of everything.  It pumps blood and life through the body, but it has to pump at just the right speed or beats per minute. 

Yet God uses the heart to speak about our spiritual life as well.  When our heart is good, it is obvious.  When our heart is bad, it is always pretty obvious.

Take a look, a short look, at the different.  First, the good heart.

2 Thessalonians 3:5  NLT
May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.

I am taking this from a God perspective.  Others will lead you in another direction or to see things from a different point of view.

The foundation I am building on first came from God, is held by God and is formed to honor God.  That heart will be filled by God.  He gives understanding and love.  Love ought to be what fills us and flows through us.

So, a good heart is one that Christ flows through in the same kind of characteristics that we know about our good and gracious God.  Love flows through the heart touched by, warmed by and turned toward God.

What does a bad heart look like or what characterizes it?

Ephesians 4:18  NLT
Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.

The bad heart, when we speak physically, is one the needs surgery or medicine or simply much help.  Turning toward the spiritual side the bad heart is one that is dark or darkened by the pain of life and the absence of God.

Illustrate it this way: have you ever looks at the different of a lung that has been clear of smoke or negative toxins?  Have you seen a lung that has ingested all kinds of toxins like smoke or dangerous gasses?  The difference is dramatic.  On the outside the bad heart is dark or black.  The good heart will be clear.

My prayer is that we will let God fill and fuel our hearts.  I pray that we will let God clear our hearts of the darkness that takes us in the wrong direction.

Know the difference in your heart.  More to come as we more toward what a generous heart might look like!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Have you heard of EDITH BURNS?

Edith Burns was a wonderful Christian who lived in San Antonio, Texas . She was the patient of a doctor by the name of Will Phillips. Dr. Phillips was a gentle doctor who saw patients as people. His favorite patient was Edith Burns.  One morning he went to his office with a heavy heart and it was because of Edith Burns.  When he walked into that waiting room, there sat Edith with her big black Bible in her lap earnestly talking to a young mother sitting beside her.  Edith Burns had a habit of introducing herself in this way: "Hello, my name is Edith Burns.  Do you believe in Easter?" Then she would explain the meaning of Easter, and many times people would be saved.  Dr. Phillips walked into that office and there he saw the head nurse, Beverly. Beverly had first met Edith when she was taking her blood pressure. Edith began by saying,"My name is Edith Burns. Do you believe in Easter?"  Beverly said, "Why yes I do."  Edith said, "Well, what do you

why is it Good Friday?

  Holy Week is the time we focus on God and His gift of salvation.  We come to Friday.  The day we remember the cross, Jesus’ death and all God has done for you and me   Why do they call this day “Good Friday” because it doesn’t seems good?   Jesus was treated as a criminal.  He was beaten so much that He could not recognize Him.  His pain would have been too much for you or me to endure.  That is especially from Scripture I’ve read or as in the movie the  Passion of the Christ .   Yet it is a good day.  It is Good Friday because God had our good in His heart.  What Jesus did that day changed our forever direction. Here are some thoughts that come to me:   He is Redemption and Redeemer   He too our Pain and Punishment   He is our Righteousness and Reality   He is the Savior and Life   All of those happened from the cross.  It was meant for the worst lawbreakers.  It was not meant for a Savior who never broke a law.  It was lifted high so that onlookers could see the price Jesus.   Look

Day 8 in Cuba

We have just come off and incredible weekend, and it is day 8 of the mission trip in Cuba.  Thank you to all who have been praying for this trip, the mission team and the impact it will have on those we serve.   Please don’t stop praying. Last week Alex and I served with a mission team in the mountains of southern Cuba.  There were several challenges, but God gave us safety, provision and opportunity to serve some of the sweetest people I have ever met.  No running water… sporadic electricity generated by a small, logo dammed up river, no transportation other than animals, limited food sources and more.  These people love the Lord and sharing their faith with others. Over the weekend we made our way back to Havana.  On Friday our vehicle broke down leaving us on the side of the road for several hours.  We then boarded a bus and rode 14 hours.  We arrived safely and even got some rest. Sunday was so, so good.  We visited two partner churches.  In the morning we were with one church that