The Heart-mind

    God has given to each one of us a freedom to think. We can use this freedom independent from all others. It is an inner sanctum of the soul where we empower the mind to think good or evil. It is the center of our universe, the source of strength that can raise us far above the level of the animal, or can create in us that which plunges us far beneath the beastly nature.
    The mind is unlimited. Its scope is inexhaustible. Its ability is beyond imagination. Faith or belief is a basic foundation of the heart-mind. It has the power to think, to reason, to understand. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17.) By faith the heart- mind is moved to obey. You believe facts or evidence. You obey commands or instructions. The heart-mind intends to do right, purposes good and gladly obeys the directions the God gives. “By faith Abel offered . . . By faith Enoch was translated . . . By faith Noah prepared an ark . . . By faith Abraham offered up Isaac . . . By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter . . . By faith Israel passed through the Red Sea . . .(Hebrews 11). This listing of the faithful, tells what the power of faith moved them to do. Because of their active faith, they were able to receive the promises of God. You don’t believe in commands, you obey them. You don’t obey promises, you receive them. All of these actions are within the power of the heart-mind. God has freely given us this control.
    Solomon writes, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). The heart-mind is the source, the fountainhead, the center or hub of the wheel. Nothing is carried by a wheel when the hub breaks. It is that vital part that must be guarded and protected at all costs. It holds that which houses the spokes that extend themselves in every relationship of life. When the hub goes down, the heart is broken beyond repair. The issues of life are all decided in the heart.
    An old preacher once told me of a sermon he preached called “The Only Scriptural Evil Thought”. I looked to him with interest for his explanation. He said it was mentioned in the Bible many times. Again, I inquired, where? Read it for yourself, it is where Jesus said, “And it came to pass”. He instructed me like a little child. “You see” he said, “everyone, without exception, has evil thoughts, but they are not bad to do damage if they come to pass. It is those what come to stay that ruin us”. So evil thoughts come and we should freely ‘let them pass’, and never allow them to ‘come to stay’. Our eyes see things that they should not see, our ears hear things that they should not hear and our feet often step in places that they should not go. The answer is straight and simple. Let the evil go by us and never let it come within our heart-minds to stay.
    Jesus puts it another way. “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach, and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth, come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what makes a man unclean (defiles a man): but eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean” (Matthew 15:16-20). When you allow evil thoughts to pass, it does not make you unclean, it makes you human. Yet when these thoughts come to stay, it debases you below the level of an animal and forms in the mind that which it intends to do in life. The law said, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” but Jesus said, “But I tell you, that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully (to lust after her) has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 6:27-28).
    To abduct a woman mentally and take them to the bedroom of your heart, and enjoy the sexual fantasy with them is only an introduction to the actual occurrence. It’s that evil thought that comes to stay that “leads us into temptation and thus into sin and death.
    The Psalmist puts it succinctly when he wrote, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinner, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalms 1:1-2).
    The Apostle Paul writes, Finally, Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:9). Evil thoughts and ways, just let them -“COME TO PASS!” It’s all a matter of choice!

 

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