Who Rules Our Every Next Moment?

[HKHaugan]

Who Rules Our Every-Next-Moment?

 How we think about Scripture depends on how we think into it. Let me say that again in another way. What occupies our thinking just before we pick up the Bible? What is our mindset as we open its pages? What is our thinking condition at the moment, our concentration at the moment, the influences of our emotional, physical and spiritual issues present moving into a moment?

 There is a lot that comes into play. Life in this world is complicated. Any number of things can distract us, get us self-oriented; finances, politics, relationships and whatever. These call for a moment of withdrawal, taking a breath and re-focusing, praying for the Holy Spirit to set and keep our mind on the Lord. You might want to ask, “Lord, what were you thinking when you spoke these words?”

 If you approach the Word with Him in mind, then you will experience more of what He thinks than what is besetting you at the moment. The ‘besetting’ stuff, like ailments, relational upset and economic concerns, narrow the window of spiritual perception. It’s like when you have an argument with someone close to you, everything is blurred by that encounter, mild or heavy as it may have been. Until there is some resolution to it, you feel out of balance. It’s also like having sticky hands and there’s no way to get them unsticky without washing them. This is why Scripture tells us not to let the sun go down on our anger (Eph.4:26).

 There is a righteous anger too. But that is God’s area of concern and only He has the solution to what makes Him angry. In Scripture it is obvious, by its numerous citings, that the Lord God abhors sin and evil. Jesus and His Cross alone were the only means through which sin and evil could be defeated. It is not our prerogative to assume, because we believe in Him, our momentary anger is justified. There are many things that can trigger our anger. The biggies like national and political issues can keep us busy being mad. The behavior of people around us, the flurry of ethical concepts and relational abusiveness fill the media reportage.

 In all of this, there is a bottom line, the witness of Jesus. What stands out about His whole lifestyle was His focus. He said and did everything to please His Father. His Father’s will was His will. Three things Jesus portrayed that make Him stand out in a crowd, His mission to the heart. His responses to momentary situations and His every-next-moment faith.

 His Mission to the heart

Unlike the world that says the heart depends on the attitudes, opinions and standards others accept, He said it was all about the will of His Heavenly Father whose love was aimed at each person’s heart. The way Jesus approached and dealt with people was His Father’s way which was totally opposite of how the world around Him thought and acted. If the heart was filled with God’s love instead of man’s exploitive definitions, then the heart would cause the mind to think differently and the behavior of a person would change. Herein is where sin reigns and needs to be forgiven and the heart freed from it. Everywhere Jesus went it was to preach the good news of freedom from sin in the individual heart and the Kingdom of Heaven would be recognized and received (Mt.4:17). The Kingdom of Heaven is a Kingdom of hearts spiritually one with God. There Jesus is King.

 His responses to momentary situations

One thing stands out about Jesus’ responses, they were always about things the heart could control and change but never about things that were out of the heart’s personal reach. Jesus never got involved in political causes, demonstrations and opinions. He always confronted the hearts in individuals whether they were alone or in groups. His interchange with Pontius Pilate says so much. When Pilate followed the Jewish religious idea of Him being a king in this world, He replied “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place (John 18:36).” Simply said, He was not in the slightest, interested in political and military control and superiority. His sole interest was in bringing people’s hearts back to their ultimate Father and God.

 His every-next-moment faith

To accomplish His goal for every human heart, it was necessary that he identify the natural state of an individual’s heart, the way it was influenced and the way it responded to its surroundings, spiritually, personally and relationally. All human beings have a heart conditioned by their culture, their emotional and economic survival. Fear and pride dominate hearts. They are the evidence of the nature of sin, assuming self as a god. Henley’s arrogant poetic assumption of deity in his Invictus, sums up the problem, “It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll, I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.”

 Jesus’ whole life was a moving opposition to that proposition. He identified the fact, nature and foreboding destiny of a heart trapped in its own lonely assumptions. “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For, from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly (Mark 7:20-23).” If the heart is imperfect then…….

 No one is perfect. There are no perfect minds, hearts and souls. It is the heart and its attitudes that are self-centered, defensive and looking for self-justification. That’s sin. The imperfect mind is always attempting to justify what the imperfect heart gives it. Therefore, real oppression is internal and spiritual; all those things that cannot be seen that cause anger, rage and irrational non-reasoning behavior. The heart of every person is in need of rehabilitation, remediation and restoration to its created intention, loving God, loving one another, looking out for the oppressed, the poor and the lonely.  It is for these that Jesus went to the Cross in faith and died unjustly at the hands of leaders whose hearts, minds and souls were imperfect. He died faithfully following His Father’s will to touch human hearts with the truth of His grace and love. His Resurrection is the proof of Jesus’ mission, His life and teachings. He was and is the only perfect person in mind, heart and Spirit.

 In a nutshell what is all this saying? Jesus believed in His Father, trusted Him in His heart and acted in faith as he met every person, was confronted by worldly powers and perfectly faced every moment with its temptations and trials. It is the faith He gives us when we receive Him, His teachings and presence. He is always with us as we move about, prompting us with His Spirit in our minds, hearts and spirits. He gives us the ability to change within, which changes how we react and act where we are, with the wisdom to know what we can control and what we can’t control. When a heart is focused in God, where that heart lives changes the world around it. It’s real, relational, spiritual and local. That’s Jesus’ call to us. The rest is in His hands.