The Heart (Part 2)

Season 2 Episode 41 - What does the Bible mean by "the heart?"  I have found a wonderful, modern-day parable that offers many helpful insights into the various facets of the heart.  In today's episode, I begin sharing this word picture.  Listen, and see if you identify with the illustrations presented.

"Reflect on This" is a once-weekly, short devotional podcast. In these devotionals, I share the things I am learning about the ways and nature of God, through applying my study of the Scriptures to life, in practical and fulfilling ways.
 
If you like the podcast, please tell your friends and family about it, and subscribe/follow it, because it helps others to find the podcast more easily.
 
Resources that inspired some episodes:

"My Heart, Christ's Home" by Robert Munger

"The Language of Rivers and Stars" by Seth Lewis

“Dream Small:  The Secret Power of the Ordinary Christian Life” by Seth Lewis

 Seth Lewis blog:  https://sethlewis.ie/

35 Bible Verses About Listening To Others (Explained) - Bible Repository 

"Restoration Year: Devotions to Transform Your Relationships, Spirit, and Faith" by John Eldredge

"Boundaries" by Henry Cloud and John Townsend

"The Pleasure of His Company" by Dutch Sheets

"Fresh Air" by Chris Hodges

“The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts” by Gary Chapman

"The Lies We Believe: Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life" by Dr. Chris Thurman

Featured ministries and resources:
 
“Agape Puppets” (ministry)
This is an amazing world-wide ministry that uses puppet shows to reach children (and their parents) for Christ, in cultures that are generally not very open to the Gospel.  To learn more, go to: https://theagapepuppets.org/ 

"Manufacture Good" (ministry)
 Manufacture Good is a Christian ministry that offers paid apprenticeships to men who need a second chance.  These apprentices learn biblical principles, character, and valuable woodworking and metalworking skills which lead to employment opportunities.  You can shop their catalog of fine home and office products, order a standard or custom piece of furniture, make a donation, and learn more about this amazing ministry, at: https://manufacturegood.org/.

"The World and Everything in It" (podcast)
This is a weekday 35-minute podcast that presents headline news, in-depth news articles, media reviews, and opinion pieces from a Christian world view.  Their stated mission is "biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires."
 
“Crazy Little Thing Called Marriage” (podcast) 
This is a once a week 30-minute podcast hosted by Greg and Erin Smalley, who head up the marriage team at Focus on the Family.  Each episode addresses a different aspect of marriage, using biblical principles, featured guests, practical advice, and a mixture of humor and candidness.  
 
"e-Sword" (Bible study software)
This study tool includes many free (and low-cost) resources, including Bibles, dictionaries, commentaries, and devotionals.  It allows you to simultaneously view verses and their corresponding cross-references, lexicon entries, commentaries, and more.
On your computer, go to e-sword.net
On your mobile device, go to your app store and search for “e-sword.” 

Music credits:
Beauty by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all

Transcript

In the previous episode, I introduced the biblical concept of the heart as the seat of our mind, will and emotions.  The word heart is used interchangeably in the Bible with the word soul.  Then we began looking at excerpts from  “My Heart, Christ’s Home” by Robert Munger.  It is a simple yet challenging word picture of our heart, and our interactions with Christ as we take Him on a tour of the rooms of our heart.  Let’s continue where we left off in the last episode – the start of this wonderful word picture.

After Christ entered my heart and in the joy of that new-found relationship, I said to him, "Lord, I want this heart of mine to be yours. I want to have you settle down here and be perfectly at home. Everything I have belongs to you. Let me show you around and introduce you to the various features of the home, [so] that you may be more comfortable and that we may have fuller fellowship together." He was very glad to come, of course, and happier still to be given a place in the heart.

THE LIBRARY

The first room was the study -- the library. Let us call it the study of the mind. Now, in my home, this room of the mind is a very small room with very thick walls. But it is an important room. In a sense, it is the control room of the house. He entered with me and looked around at the books in the bookcase, the magazines upon the table, the pictures on the wall. As I followed his gaze, I became uncomfortable. Strangely enough, I had not felt badly about this before, but now that he was there looking at these things, I was embarrassed. There were some books there that his eyes were too pure to behold. There was a lot of trash and literature on the table that a Christian had no business reading, and as for the pictures on the wall -- the imaginations and thoughts of the mind-- these were shameful.

I turned to him and said, "Master, I know that this room needs a radical alteration. Will you help me make it what it ought to be-- to bring every thought into captivity to you?"

"Surely!" he said. "Gladly will I help you. That is one reason I am here. First of all, take all the things that you are reading and seeing which are not helpful, pure, good and true, and throw them out! Now put on the empty shelves the books of the Bible. Fill the library with scriptures and meditate on them day and night. As for the pictures on the wall, you will have difficulty controlling these images, but here is an aid." He gave me a full-sized picture of himself. "Hang this centrally," he said, "on the wall of the mind." I did, and I have discovered [over] the years that when my thoughts are centered upon Christ himself, his purity and power cause impure imaginations to retreat. So, he has helped me to bring my thoughts into captivity.

THE DINING ROOM

From the study we went to the dining room, the room of appetites and desires. Now this was a very large room. I spent a good deal of time in the dining room and much effort in satisfying my wants.

I said to him, "This is a very [spacious] room, and I am quite sure you will be pleased with what we serve here."

He seated himself at the table with me and asked, "What is on the menu for dinner?"

"Well," I said, "my favorite dishes: old bones, corn husks, sour cabbage, leeks, onions and garlic right out of Egypt." There were the things I liked -- worldly fare. I suppose there was nothing radically wrong in any particular item, but it was not the food that should satisfy the life of a real Christian. When the food was placed before him, he said nothing about it. However, I observed that he did not eat it, and I said to him, somewhat disturbed, "Savior, you don't care for the food that is placed before you? What is the trouble?"

He answered, "I have meat to eat that you know not of. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." He looked at me again and said, "If you want food that really satisfies you, seek the will of the Father, not your own pleasures, not your own desires, not your own satisfaction. Seek to please me, and that food will satisfy you." And there about the table he gave me a taste of doing God's will. What a flavor! There is no food like it in all the world. It alone satisfies. Everything else is dissatisfying in the end.

Munger pauses at this point to offer an admonition for us regarding these 2 rooms.  If we are having difficulty with the library (the room of thoughts), he encourages us to “pack it full with the Word of God, meditate upon it and [always] keep before it… the immediate presence of the Lord Jesus.”  

He then encourages us to consider the dining room of our heart, and to examine what kind of food we are eating and serving to Christ.  “Are we feeding the lust of the flesh and the pride of life – selfishly?  Or are we choosing God’s will for our meat and drink?”

The library (the room of thoughts), and the dining room (the room of appetites and desires).  Will you heed Munger’s admonition regarding these rooms of your heart?

Today, I encourage you to “Reflect on This.”