The Springs of Life

January 31, 2024

Did you know that there is a common source from which flows everything you think, every attitude you have, everything you say, every plan you make, and everything you do?  The common source of all of these things is the spiritual heart.  The heart is the innermost part of our being, and the condition of our heart will determine everything about us.  Your heart defines who you really are on the inside, and therefore determines the actions that you will take in daily life.  Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we give careful and constant consideration to the condition of our hearts.

Listen to these words of wisdom from Proverbs: “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23 NAS95) The heart is pictured here as a bubbling spring, the source of all things that flow out from your life. If the “streams” that flow out from your life (the thoughts, the attitudes, the words, the actions) are evil, it is because the source of those streams—the heart—is defiled.  This is why we must be diligent to guard our heart and not let anything pollute it. 

How can we guard our hearts?  Let’s look at the previous verses to see what we must do. “My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them And health to all their body.” (Proverbs 4:20-22 NAS95) We must continue to pay close attention to words of wisdom. When we don’t, our heart is in great danger.  I have seen it happen many times; people stop taking the word of God to heart, and bad things always follow.  Why?  Because in the absence of the wisdom of God, the spring of life becomes polluted, and that pollution will flow downstream.

But just as the heart can be polluted, it can also be purified and cleansed.  God can bring continual renewal to our defiled hearts.  And when God cleanses our hearts, it is a certainty that beautiful, wonderful things will flow from our lives. If we will be diligent to let His word in, to respond in faith to it, to be led by His Spirit, then life and health will flow from our innermost being.  And not only will we find blessings in our own lives, but we will be a blessing to those around us.

—Scott Colvin

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God, the Examiner of Hearts

August 8, 2023

One theme that we find in the Sermon on the Mount is that God sees the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, and that those inner thoughts and intentions will determine our standing with God.  It’s not merely our actions that God is concerned about, but the condition of our inner being.  For example, in the Beatitudes, Jesus pronounces a blessing upon those who are “poor in spirit,” on those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” and on those who are “pure in heart.”  Each of these qualities are first and foremost a condition of the inner person (though they certainly create noticeable, external effects).

Later in Jesus’ sermon, He continues teaching about the condition of our hearts.  “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court…” (Matthew 5:21-22a NAS95) We all get angry at times, but Jesus is teaching us that to continue in anger toward another, to nurse our anger and hold on to it makes us guilty before God.  This is entirely a matter of the heart!  Notice that Jesus hasn’t said anything about the words we say in anger, or the things we do in anger.  It’s all about what is going on inside—things that only God could know!  Yes, Jesus deals with the words that we might say in anger (later in the same verse). But notice that it all starts as thoughts within the heart.

Similarly, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28 NAS95) Here is another case where no physical act is taking place.  One might think they are in a right relationship with God because they didn’t “do” anything.  But Jesus says that God looks at lust in the heart as adultery.

Sometimes people will flippantly say, in order to lightly excuse their sinful behavior, “God knows my heart!”  Yes, God does indeed know our hearts, and the sin that dwells there can condemn us eternally.  We must have a deep concern about the condition of our hearts!  The teaching of Jesus, when heard carefully, will not cause us to casually dismiss our sinfulness, but will drive us into the arms of Jesus to beg for His mercy, His cleansing, and His continual transformation of our hearts through His Spirit.  Thank God for the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus!      

—Scott Colvin

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Whitewashed Living

November 5, 2021

Cemeteries have a certain beauty in their own way, don’t they?  They are quiet.  They have well-manicured grass and beautiful flowers.  There are many beautifully carved stone monuments scattered about the grounds.  And yet, even though cemeteries are beautiful on the surface, we don’t go there just to enjoy the afternoon or to have a picnic, do we?  That’s because we know what lies under the surface. 

Jesus made this point when talking about the scribes and Pharisees.  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27-28 NASB) What do we learn from Jesus’ statement?  People, even Christians, can be just like a cemetery—beautiful outwardly, but full of death and decay inwardly.  The scribes and Pharisees went through the right motions.  They read and memorized the scriptures, they faithfully attended worship services, they carefully tithed all that they had, they said all the right things, and yet Jesus told them that they were dead inside!  Jesus knew what was under the surface.  It was all a veneer.  They were just like whitewashed tombs. 

You and I need to be careful that we do not fall into this way of living.  We need to be careful to surrender our inner lives completely to God.  We need to be careful that we’re not just going through the motions so that we appear righteous to others.  We can fool people with a coat of whitewash, but we can never fool Jesus.  He knows our hearts, and He wants to be Lord of our hearts.  If we will surrender our hearts to Jesus, He will make our inner selves radiant and beautiful, and that beauty will flow outwardly into our lives and make us truly beautiful in the eyes of God. 

— Scott Colvin

 

P.S. This is Scott Colvin’s first post on whiletoday.com. Check out his bio under About. I’m glad to have him joining me as a writer for this blog. — Russ Holden

            

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Posted by Scott Colvin