Tuesday, February 12, 2019

“How Large Our Hearts?"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…



"How Large Our Hearts?"



     "I will run the way of Thy commandments when Thou shalt enlarge my heart" (Psalm 119:32).

    How large do our hearts have to be to run the way of God's commandments?  This large:

   "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).

   The eternal God, as revealed in us by the indwelling Holy Spirit, must lead us in a life of faith and faithfulness to our Heavenly Father.  He did not make us to navigate the course of our existence by our own inadequate devices.  "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5).  We rather exist to be "the habitation of God through the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22).  Thus, our hearts must be enlarged to an infinite spiritual measure by the presence of our Lord within.  Moreover, if such abundance of grace is to have the effect intended by God, we must know, believe, and affirm that we "live through Him" (I John 4:9).

  The truest thing one can say about a born again Christian?  God is there.  Or, God is therein.  We are not merely ourselves, but rather ourselves as indwelt by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.  Moreover, our Father never called us to live life as if by ourselves.  Certainly we play a trusting, submitted role in our relationship and fellowship with God.  "Exercise thyself rather unto godliness" (I Timothy 4:7).  However, the love, wisdom, strength, motivation, and life originate not in ourselves, but rather in the heart enlarging presence of the living, infinite God.  "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (Ephesians 6:10).

   No one knew this better than the Apostle Paul, whose Spirit-empowered life and words continue to reveal the glory of the Lord Jesus twenty centuries after he went home to Heaven.  The Apostle's legacy lingers now and forevermore, the legacy of the Apostle who exulted, "Not I, but Christ!" (Galatians 2:20).  Our brother of old would tell us - and does tell us through his epistles - our born again hearts are full to the brim of a Christ more vast then eternity will fully reveal.  Your heart.  My heart.  Our enlarged hearts that empower our hands to labor and our feet to run.  Let us not waste this gift of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).  Let us not waste it in our personal fellowship with the Lord.  Or our relationship with people.  Or the ministries to which God calls all His children.  Or our homes. Or our workplaces.  Or our neighborhoods.  Or anywhere, everywhere, and in all our doings.  Yes, more, infinitely more than enough Christ dwells within our spiritually distended hearts to empower a walk - a run! - that reveals the living Lord Jesus as the Life of our lives.  How large must our hearts be to run the way of God's commandments?  This large…

"Ye are the temple of the living God."
(II Corinthians 6:16)
"By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."
(I Corinthians 15:10)

Weekly Memory Verse
   Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."
(Hebrews 7:25)
    
  


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