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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

"From Your Heart"

"So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart." (Matthew 18:35)
 
It is the, "from your heart," which is the human impossibility.  I have been in a lot of "repentance" meetings, have witnessed people asking forgiveness from each other, in short, all the religious "stuff" which people do to try to deal with interpersonal conflict, or just look spiritual.  But according to our text, if all this does not come, "from your heart," forget it. 
 
I saw an article in a local paper this morning about a law suit in a local congregation between board members and the pastor.  A congregation which has no apostolic authority has no other recourse but to go, as Paul said to the Corinthian Church, "before the unrighteous."  But be not shocked.  This kind of thing has been going on ever since the Fall of man.  I did not "get" this devotional today from the newspaper.  I got it from my regular daily Bible reading, January 18, 2010.  It shows just how deeply relevant the Word of God is to humanity's every day life. 
 
"From the heart"----  How this happens, how you do it may bring many teachings.  But my answer is that I need to be as David, not "a man after God's heart," but as I heard a Jew translate it, a man who "had God's Heart."  Being "after" suggests God's favor.  Of course, who doesn't need that?  But "[having] God's Heart" enables me to live life, "from the heart," a life of my heart regenerated, forgiven, empowered, sustained, indwelt by and abiding in the "Sacred Heart of Jesus." 
 
Father, in Jesus' Name, "Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name."  Amen.
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When 18 year old Peter Torjesen "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
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