For This Reason 39

[HKHaugan]

When we talk about a mature heart we have two perspectives to define it. One is from our human desire for it and the other is the spiritual source that defines and offers it. Let's start with with the human one first.

The heart---your heart, my heart---it has such deep meaning for all of us. We are full of expressions like “I can feel in my heart...” “A heart full of love” “In my heart of hearts...” “I know in my heart...” and we can deal with anything if we just “get to the heart of the matter.” When we see someone taking on a task who seems to lack enthusiasm for it we say “His heart wasn't in it.” On the other hand when we see someone who loves what they do we say they give it all their “heart and soul.” When a certain song is played we might conclude how it “touched my heart.”

'Heart' is also applied to what motivates good character. What seems to be most admired is a heart that can stand alone and strong when confronted with hostility and rejection but also feels sympathy and responds sensitively when the moment calls. It's a heart full of honesty, integrity and confidence that knows love is not weakness but strength and that life is not about what one has but what one gives. So what has been stated so far is pretty much our human assessment of what a mature heart is all about. It's what we call ideal. It's what people see outside themselves they wish they could be. Notice how few really meet that assessment.

Now let's give a nod to the spiritual meaning. What we need to see is what the Scripture says about the heart from Jesus' perspective. Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Mt.5:8).” In fact if you look carefully at each of the 'Blesseds' you will find they speak directly to the heart. Mourning, meekness, hunger and thirst to be right, mercy, peacemaking, rejoicing when persecuted; all are heart qualities that are daily in need of maturing.

But having a pure heart begins with recognizing our need for a spiritual heart (Mt.5:3).

First, it is the heart of Jesus out of which these teachings come. So how is His heart best described? The Apostle John's passion for Jesus is rendered in this amazing statement about Him, “We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (1:14)...From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the Law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (vs.16,17).”

A heart full of grace and truth, that's the key. Jesus' heart is full, full of grace and truth. What sets apart the human assessment from the spiritual is the presence of the risen Jesus in every next moment to allow His heart to touch ours in any encounter, in any situation, in any demand placed upon us. Jesus' life through the Holy Spirit is always there available for the moment. It is His relational presence through the Spirit that brings grace and truth to bear on what we are experiencing. Grace and truth work together to bring the heart and mind into a unified force within.

Grace is the ever present loving acceptance of God directed toward us. Grace comes through the Holy Spirit who, like a baker, kneads, blends, the truth of Jesus and the heart of Jesus into the loaf of our self-conscious moments for the sake of others.

The truth is the personal reality of Jesus, God the Son, as He spreads His thoughts before us in our moment to moment relational atmosphere. When we as His conscious disciples breathe every breath He is there with us full of grace and truth, the operative description being 'full,' that is, complete and final.

What this means for us is that, being created in His image to be like Him, He provides the guarantee of His acceptance of us through faith and the Holy Spirit to be aware and sensitive like Him. Spiritually then the mature heart is an aware and sensitive heart being shaped as we go from moment to moment. Rather than an accomplished feat on our part it is an ongoing, flowing experience of personal and interpersonal discovery. We are discovering more about God, ourselves and others. Maturity is not something we finish but rather a relationship into which we are growing. We don't try to be mature or even make ourselves conscious of becoming mature. Our focus is on the Lord Jesus who through the Holy Spirit matures us. For us maturity is a process not a goal. It is a by-product of the Spirit's work in us. Our heart is always growing in spiritual awareness and spiritual sensitivity.

When Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 he's not getting us to work at being loving and so on. He is telling us to let go of trying and taking on letting the Spirit work through us. The fruit of the Spirit is really a way we identify what He is doing so we can let Him do more. This what grace and truth are really all about. They are the spiritually maturing qualities God showers on us. Paul says this about the Lord, “We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end we labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me (Col.1:28-29).” This is why Jesus says, “The work of God is this: believe on the One He has sent (John 6:29).”

Let's put it like this. If our focus is on the Lord Jesus as He is revealed word by word in the Scripture and we pray “Lord, keep me conformed to you,” His grace will flow into us and the principles of His Word will embed themselves in our hearts. That's how we become more like Him, more like His image and our hearts more like His heart. We don't concentrate on becoming mature, we concentrate on knowing Him. Look at the life of Jesus. He never tried to be mature. He just was and is. Why? His focus was His Father (John 17:1-5). “He grew in wisdom and stature with God and man.”

Perhaps we can reduce the heart's process to this request to Philip by some Greeks who were coming to Jerusalem to worship at Passover, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus (John 12:21).” Now that's the beginning of maturity.

[Karen McMahon]

 Whitey,  

It was so good to see you again.   The message that was preached I was a bit dismayed about hearing, because I knew it would be a special day if I saw you, and that message about sowing and reaping..well...I do a good bit of beating myself up already about what I must have sown in order to be in so much more pain now than I ever have been, since the middle of 2012.    I had told "the girls" (That's what I call my granddaughters) all about how you were the first person who really talked to me about God, and how much it meant and still means to me.  It has always been a war between my head and my heart, as long as I can remember...but this particular lesson of yours that I just read I like.  It takes the headache off my head!  So, after the service, which brought me to near tears a couple of times, after all, and then I saw you, I realized that God was speaking to me after all, in that YOU were sowing things all those years ago, and I was so happy to see you again, and so proud to show off  3 of "my girls."   I was thinking as we were leaving, that it was a reaping moment after all.  You sowed in me a really long time ago, and I hope you felt like you reaped, as I was there again, in a church, listening to someone talk about God, and worshiping in truth, which I really was such a baby at 14, and didn't know much about worshipping yet.   When I went up for the eucharist, I definitely thought about you, and how glad I am that I no longer have a desire to stay in my seat and not go, but I look forward to Eucharist every week, and so do the girls...and all of them are younger than I was when you told me about what the Eucharist was.  <3  I hope next time I can meet your wife too.   Do you have 1 or 2 sons?  I think your daughter and your granddaughter are in Seattle ???