Focusing on the Heart of the Matter
The 2004 movie The Village depicts a community completely sealed off from the outside world in order to protect its inhabitants from the dangers beyond, only to discover that the evil they fear is among them, because within them. They learned what the comic strip character Pogo declared: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Those who believe the Bible should not be surprised that our problems are primarily an inside job because Scripture says, Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (Proverbs 4:23). Jesus said, “Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them” (Mark 7:15). And yet all too often our focus is on circumstances or people.
Running from Trouble
When things are not as we desire in our marriages, workplaces, or churches, the first option for many is to leave, on the assumption that the problem is with our spouse/kids, boss/co-workers, church members/pastor (especially the pastor -:). But we need to remember that a change of address does not produce a change of heart, and therefore our discontent can easily go with us to the next relationship, job, or ministry.
A change of address does not produce a change of heart
The Devil Made Me Do It
Another way we’re distracted from the real cause of our spiritual struggles is to give the Devil more than his due. Contrary to the false teaching of televangelists who blasphemously make Satan virtually as powerful as God, Scripture teaches that our adversary can only do that which God allows, and nothing more. Remember, Satan had to gain God’s permission to test Job, and could only carry out what the Lord gave him leave to do (see Job 1:6, 12). Though Satan can and does tempt, he has no power to make us succumb. Only our heart’s desire determines whether we will.
Some People’s Kids
Seeing our primary struggle as external has caused many parents to mistakenly believe that if they can shelter their children enough then all will be well, only to find that when the external restraints are removed (as eventually they must be), the child’s heart leads him where it wants to go.
Many with this mindset thought the Duggars had created their own pristine and insulated existence, yet just this week their son Josh, a married father of seven, was arrested for possession of child pornography. You see, dear parents, the root issue is not that your child is hanging out with the wrong crowd. Rather, it’s that your child’s heart is such that he wants that crowd. The truth is, though you can take the child out of the world, you cannot take the world out of the child.
The root issue is not that your child is hanging out with the wrong crowd. Rather, it’s that your child’s heart is such that he wants that crowd.
Words Reveal
When we explode in a barrage of angry words we might excuse our behavior by saying, “She just knows how to push my buttons.” But Jesus said, “the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matthew 12:34 NASB). The buttons she pushes are wired to your heart, so the reason it came out is because it was already within.
Fighting the Wrong War
In a previous article, I suggested that many of us are fighting the wrong war, waged against flesh and blood rather than engaging the real spiritual battle, with the spiritual weapons appropriate to it (Ephesians 6:10-18). Christian columnist, Harvard Law graduate, and Iraq War veteran David French recently wrote in The Dispatch (highly recommended):
If you believe the most dangerous threats come from without, fear can rise in your heart. As you lose political and cultural power, and you see others shape the environment in which you live, then you start to have genuine alarm that other people are destroying the souls of those you love. What a terrifying idea. Terrifying, but ultimately false.
The Flesh, The World, and the Devil
The Bible teaches that every person has these three negative influences. The world is comprised of fallen values expressed in culture that beckon our allegiance, and the Devil dangles the world’s wares before us as enticement to sin. But both would be impotent if not for the ‘flesh’ – i.e. sin nature. Thanks be to God, the Christian has been given a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17) so that sin’s allure no longer has irresistible power:
The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? (Psalm 118:6)
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7)
Therefore, let us cultivate the heart within rather than fear the forces without.
Ken Brown is the pastor of Community Bible Church in Trenton, MI. We republish his article by permission.
Photo by Ashley Batz on Unsplash