Compared to His earlier teaching during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus's turn to parables might seem odd. He'd used clear instruction to teach His followers how to live and about the Kingdom of God, and He'd exhibited the Kingdom in a tangible way through His miracles.
But suddenly, when the crowds come to hear Him, He hops into a boat and speaks in parables, stories about sowing seeds and gathering wheat (Matthew 13).
When the disciples ask Him why, since they obviously noticed the change, His answer may seem even more astonishing: "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been granted" (Matthew 13:11).
In other words, the parables are meant to divide the crowd. While this may seem as if Jesus denied some people access, the difference He means is not in the message—but in the response.
Sea lions, pelicans and blue skies greeted us as we cut a path effortlessly through the salty paradise. We ventured about five miles out into the ocean before the angle of the sun told us it was time to head back in (real sailors don’t wear a watch). Terry pointed to a red roof in the distance, which was the locator for our docking area.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”(Proverbs 1:7)
Beyond the connection between fearing God and righteous living, the Bible presents a tight link between the fear of the Lord and wisdom.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding.” (Psalm 111:10)
“The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28)
“A wise man fears the LORD and shuns evil.” (Proverbs 14:16)
“The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom.” (Proverbs 15:33)
Once we’ve accepted that we need to fear the Lord, we pursue the path of wisdom. At the same time, seeking wisdom helps us understand what it means to fear God.
“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13 NASB)
God wants you to trust his guidance, so he sent you a Guide.
When you became a believer, God placed the Holy Spirit within you, and he’s been teaching you ever since to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit’s counsel. The Holy Spirit is your Guide, one who walks with you along the way. He knows every step of the journey and understands the blessings and dangers ahead. He knows where you’ve been and where you’re going, and he knows the best path to take.
This is an important issue to understand, because God never intended for you to figure out the steps of your journey without him. In truth, how you get on mission and how you succeed at your mission are God’s responsibilities. Your responsibility is to seek his guidance and obey his directions.
Are your days filled with loneliness? Do you dread getting up and facing another day? Come talk to a mentor.
“[I]f you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” (Proverbs 2:3-5)
Time just seems to stand still when I am with my two grandboys! All the cares I have simply vanish when I am playing pretend with an imaginative, delightful three year old, or getting warm cuddles and ready smiles from the sweetest little baby!
Yesterday they came over and I was a ready participant when Logan said, “Let’s have an adventure, Gramma!” We put on our warm hoodies and went outside to explore the back yard. We were hunting for treasures and treasures we found!
"Watch out if you get Miss Linder," said a boy in fifth grade. "She's the meanest teacher in the school." I was in third grade then and didn't worry about Miss Irma Linder. But when I entered fifth grade, I was assigned to her class.
She was tough. Mean. Demanding. She had eyes that saw everything we did, even with her back to us. But despite it all, Miss Linder was my favorite teacher in grade school. I learned more from her than any of the others. She had a way of making me want to learn. When I did less than my best, I had the feeling that I had let her down as much as I had let myself down.
Since then, I've had other teachers I've loved or admired. But there's no question about my all-time, lifelong favorite teacher. His name is Jesus. Even his enemies called him "teacher" (rabbi) and recognized his great skill of communicating truth to his hearers.
When I talk to my Favorite Teacher, I hear myself begin sentence after sentence with, "Teach me...." Those are sincere words and express my heart's desire. I want to learn and I believe my Favorite Teacher wants me to learn.
On the chalkboard for my Sunday school class I drew a small square inside a large circle. "The circle represents life and the box stands for the laws of God. Where are you?" I placed an X inside the box and I placed another outside the box. "Which best represents you and your understanding of the laws of God?"
From there I went on to explain that committed Christians tend to take one of two positions: inside or outside the box. Those inside the box are keenly aware of God's laws and carefully obey them. Their lives revolve around staying away from the four walls of the box. Their freedom, although limited, is that they can do what they want, but within the confines of the walls.
Some in the class used the box to define their lives. The laws, rules, regulations, injunctions, commands, and statutes of God were about as far as they would travel.
One of my clients once asked me what it means to trust another human being. She wanted to know how she should react when a spouse or significant other is dishonest, inconsiderate or having an affair. She wondered if it is possible to rebuild trust in someone who disappoints us greatly.
What does trusting someone signify?
Trust, in a practical sense, means that you place confidence in someone to be honest with you, faithful to you, keep promises, vows and confidences and not abandon you. Here are some factors to consider about trust. Trusting another person requires a realistic perspective about people and an expectation of failure. Trust needs to be combined with a willingness to forgive and grows best in an environment of acceptance and love.
There’s no magic machine, you don’t put in a quarter and out drops a can of trust — trust grows over time. People are complex, broken beings therefore, previous hurts, fears or losses can impede their determination to trust and/or be truthful in a relationship. But, people have the capacity and the ability to change and to grow in trust and truthfulness. You can rebuild trust in broken relationships when you make a choice to do so with the supernatural help of God.
Adjust your expectations
Unconditional love develops trust because as you express this kind of love towards someone — generally he or she will sense your acceptance and feel comfortable to be vulnerable and honest about their feelings. Unconditional love actually builds self-esteem in others and alleviates their fears of rejection. People learn that they can be authentic with you about their feelings, opinions, and failures. The result is a growing trust in the other person. Not because that person is perfect but because that person is growing in honesty. People are human, frail, and sinful. Therefore, you need a realistic type of trust when you choose to trust someone. Trusting grows in relationships over time because as you spend time together with someone you build knowledge, understanding and authenticity. You gain insight into another person’s character, needs, motivations and fears.
A Conversation about Love & God
Has love betrayed you? Is it preventing you from believing that you are a human being who is loved by God? You are intelligent, beautiful, loved, and not alone.
Unconditional love is patient and kind
It is not self-seeking. It does not keep a record of wrongs. When love is not patient or enduring; when love is unforgiving and always disappointed or looking for something to go wrong, it generates fear and looks for imperfections in the other person. Fear-based love is conditional creating an atmosphere of distrust, dishonesty and instability.
You can have a limited trust in people as you grow to know them and they see you really care about them but the fact is that people will let us down. That is reality. Obviously, when someone has broken their vows and been unfaithful, has lied or been dishonest in the relationship, they need to change. You can make some requests for change and take the risk of starting over again. Get counseling and pastoral guidance. You can find a counselor or go to the nearest mental health center. If you are suicidal please contact 911 (in the USA & Canada) or go to a hospital emergency room.
If that person is not sincere about changing and continues to lie or betray you, then, you need to consider whether to end the relationship.
Take a look at yourself as well
You will never be perfect and therefore, you will probably disappoint your loved one as well. You can promise to never say something hurtful or never tell a lie or never exaggerate or always keep your promises or (you name it) but since you are human you will also make mistakes and disappoint that person. The only thing you or your loved one can promise is to grow, to seek God and ask Him for strength to change. Then you and your loved one will become more trustworthy in your relationships, though you will never be perfect.
Every human relationship will suffer hurt. Thus, we all need to become better forgivers and confessors. That ability to reconcile and spirit of humbleness will prove the depth of your love and commitment.
The components of love, forgiveness and commitment are as necessary to trust in a relationship as is honesty. Forgiveness gives you the chance to start over and trust another fallible human being again. Love helps to nourish trust. Commitment and honesty provide accountability to one another.
The ability to forgive is rooted in being forgiven ourselves. In the Bible it says that God loves the world so much that he sent his only son so that we could be forgiven. As people we all make mistakes, not one of us can live up to the standard God set on our own. But God promises that if we accept what Jesus did for us, we can be forgiven. The slate can be wiped clean no matter what has happened in the past. God promises us strength for today and bright hope for the future. Whatever happened in your yesterdays God can take care of all of your tomorrows.
You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer. Praying is simply talking to God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. Here’s a suggested prayer:
Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Saviour and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of woman you want me to be.
If this prayer expresses the desire of your heart, pray it right now and Christ will come into your life as He promised. If you invited Jesus Christ into your life, thank God often that He is in your life, that He will never leave you and that you have eternal life. As you learn more about your relationship with God, and how much He loves you, you’ll experience life to the fullest.
There’s so much misunderstanding in the world today about the position and role of women. Those who are Bible-believing Christians are often perceived as being archaic in our positions. And unfortunately, this perception has infiltrated the church!
But did you know that when the writers of the New Testament gave us God’s position on the role of women, it was absolutely counter-cultural? In that day women were treated as possessions that could be discarded at will!
But when Jesus came, the position of women in the world was dramatically elevated. This is why Paul tells husbands to love their wives “as Christ loved the church” (Eph. 5:25).
Keep this in mind when you read 1 Peter 3:1, which says, “Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives” (New King James Version).
So what does being submissive look like in a biblical marriage? Well, what does your husband need? He needs a wife who honors him, a wife who prefers him, a wife who notices him, and a wife who believes in him. Above all else, a husband needs a wife who respects him!
Above all else, a husband needs a wife who respects him!
On the other hand, disrespecting your husband—being critical, non-supportive, and passive about his needs—can damage his self-esteem and cause him to emotionally withdraw to avoid being insulted again.
When God the Son came to earth to die on the cross, he clearly submitted to the will of God the Father. So here you have two co-equal beings… with one submitting to the other. What a perfect picture of a Christian marriage! So you and I must do the same. We must submit out of love to our husbands and respect them as they lead.
Understanding true biblical submission—the kind that Jesus showed to the Father—is the key to having a fulfilling marriage. A submissive wife is one who joyfully declares, “I love my husband and my family, and I am going to live my life God’s way!”
The heart is the most important member of the inner man.
Did you know that there are more than 700 references to the heart in the Bible, and that only two of them, 2 Samuel 18:14 and 2 Kings 9:24, actually refer to the physical heart?
In the Scriptures, the word “heart” has various meanings. Sometimes it is a synonym for the mind and understanding. Sometimes it indicates the affections, sometimes the will, and sometimes the conscience. Actually in Scripture the “heart” includes the various functions of the inner man.
The heart is the center of man’s moral nature, the inward spring from which proceed “the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23 KJV). It signifies the whole soul, and is the fountain from which issue all our thoughts, desires, passions, affections, emotions, motives, impulses, reflexes, and instincts. That the heart is the very center of our inner or secret life is clearly seen from how Peter designates it: “the hidden man of the heart.”
The Lord’s teaching is in harmony with the entire Bible. Man is judged according to his heart’s condition: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil” (Lk. 6:45).
Many Scriptures indicate that the heart performs mental functions. Thus the heart thinks (Prov. 23:7), has imaginations (Gen. 6:5; 8:21), and is the seat of thoughts and intentions (Heb. 4:12). The Lord Himself, the only diagnostician of man’s disease, affirms that evil thoughts proceed from the corrupt heart of sinners (Mk. 7:21). Other intellectual functions ascribed to the heart are: reasoning (Mk. 2:8), conceiving ideas (Acts 5:4), understanding (Prov. 8:5; Jn. 12:40), and hiding God’s Word (Ps. 119:11).
We ordinarily think of the heart as the emotional part of man. And the heart is used in Scripture to express affection: “My heart rejoices in the Lord” (1 Sam. 2:1); “My heart is inditing (bubbling over with) a good matter” (Ps. 45:1); “Let not your heart be troubled” (Jn. 14:1).
Sometimes the Bible uses the word “heart” to indicate the conscience (1 Sam. 24:5; 2 Sam. 24:10). Hebrews 10:22 implies that the conscience in man is, in fact, a component of his heart: “having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.”
The heart is doubtless the most important member of the inner man. This is made evident by the more than 700 references to it in Scripture, the way God views it and exhorts us concerning it, the fact that Satan aims his attacks at it, the close relationship it has with all other parts of the soul, and the vital role it plays in both the sinner’s and saint’s life.
God And The Heart
The supreme place of the heart in the Bible is proven by how God regards it. The Bible presents several divine attitudes toward the human heart.
First, the Lord looks at the heart: “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). The eyes of God are principally fixed on that inward spring from which come the issues of life. He alone is fully conversant with that great center of our moral being. He sees its thoughts and intents, beholds its motives and impulses, observes its dispositions, and knows its desires and passions.
Second, the Lord ponders the heart (Prov. 21:2; 24:12). This is not said of any other member of our inward being except the spirit (Prov. 16:2). Proverbs 24:12 describes God as “He that pondereth the heart” and the Judge of all earth who will “render to every man according to his works.” Our righteous God deals with us according to the condition of our hearts since all our words, works, and walks can be traced back to that fountain.
Third, the Lord turns the heart: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord ... He turneth it whithersoever He will” (Prov. 21:1). Earlier we saw that the “heart” in Scripture signified the whole soul; by turning the heart the Most High is able to influence the whole man.
Fourth, the Lord knows the heart (Acts 15:8). He alone is well acquainted with that secret fountain of life and personality. None of us can fully discern the secret motives and hidden recesses of our heart. The apostasy of man has resulted in his knowing “good and evil” (Gen. 3:22), but not knowing his own heart (Jer. 17:9).
Fifth, the Lord searches the heart (Jer. 17:10). This is not said of any other faculty of the soul except the mind. Thus we read that God sees, searches and tries the heart and mind (Ps. 7:9; Jer. 20:12; Rev. 2:23). Together, the heart and mind represent “the inward parts ... the hidden part” (Ps. 51:6). God requires truth - that is, reality and not hypocrisy - in these hidden parts. It is not enough that the truth be on the mouth; it must reach and permeate the inward parts - the heart and mind.
God’s Exhortation About The Heart
The great importance of the heart is also seen in the many divine exhortations concerning it. In His Word, God bids us to: “circumcise ... the foreskin of your heart” (Dt. 10:16; Jer. 4:4); “wash thine heart from wickedness” (Jer. 4:14); “rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God” (Joel 2:13); “believe with all thine heart” (Acts 8:37; Rom. 10:9); and “purify your hearts” (Jas. 4:8). In the Bible the heart is the very center of human accountability. Let’s look more closely at two additional injunctions from Proverbs.
First, we are told, “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). This is the touchstone of true religion, the most essential task the Lord has assigned to each of us. But how sadly it is neglected! Most of us keep our bodies, investments, reputations and positions with great vigilance. But our heart is not guarded, and is left an easy prey for Satan to enter and fill it.
Second, God says to every person, “Give Me thine heart” (Prov. 23:26). God insists that the heart, representing the whole inner man, be unreservedly given to Him. If we give God only the head (theoretical non-saving knowledge such as described in 2 Pet. 2:20), the lips (mouth religion), the hands (work religion), or the feet (false-walk religion), He will not accept them. Neither will He accept an unstable, divided heart. He will not share the human heart with any other idol (Ex. 20:3; 1 Jn. 5:21).
Satan And The Heart
In tempting man, Satan always sends his evil darts to the heart. In doing so, he reveals his knowledge of the anatomy of our inward being as well as human psychology. With 6,000 years experience seducing man, he knows that if he can enter a man’s heart, he will have full sway of the whole man.
Jesus affirms that Satan’s work is focused on the heart. In all three accounts of the parable of the sower and seed, our Lord declares that the prince of darkness snatches the Word of God out of the “hearts” of the “wayside” hearers (Mt. 13:19; Mk. 4:15; Lk. 8:12). In addition to taking God’s Word out of men’s hearts “lest they should believe and be saved” (Lk. 8:12), he is also able to put vile thoughts into the heart, as he did when he put the idea “into the heart of Judas” to betray Jesus (Jn. 13:2).
Scripture outlines three stages of Satan’s work within the human heart. First, he whispers wicked suggestions into the heart (Jn. 13:2). It is our responsibility to immediately repel evil thoughts and not dwell on them. The unguarded heart - that does not comply with Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart,” - is easy prey for the wicked one. Second, Satan actually enters the heart (Lk. 22:3), turning it into a channel for his wicked purpose. When we feed on his imaginations we encourage him to enter our heart. Third, to ensure that his evil is carried out, Satan fills the heart by strengthening the sinner’s resolve to perform the wicked act. This is illustrated in Peter’s reproach of Ananias: “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?” (Acts 5:3). Peter’s question clearly suggests that Ananias was to blame for yielding to the temptation.
A very important reason why we are exhorted to “keep our heart with all diligence” (Prov. 4:23) is that there is a strong enemy who “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). He has an ally within us, our corrupt nature, the “flesh” as the Bible calls it.
The Sinner And The Heart
In our fallen condition, no member of our inward being is so horribly depicted in the Bible as the heart. It is seen as wholly evil, desperately wicked, congenitally foolish, intrinsically mad, and exceedingly deceitful (Gen. 6:5, 8:21; Prov. 22:15; Eccl. 8:11, 9:3; Jer. 17:9).
This humbling description of the fountain of all vital actions puts the noses of the best humans in the dust before God. Those who brag about the nobility of human nature should familiarize themselves with what our Creator - who knows the havoc sin has wrought in us - says about us.
Scripture clearly teaches that the seat of indwelling sin is the heart. Sin is a loathsome heart disease. That is why it is termed “the plague of his own heart” (1 Ki. 8:38). Sin is “foolishness ... bound in the heart of a child” (Prov. 22:15). Solomon affirms that indwelling evil resides in the heart: “The heart of the sons of men is full of evil” and “is fully set in them to do evil” (Eccl. 9:3, 8:11). The words “full” and “fully” imply the totality and horribleness of indwelling corruption.
Sin is the plague of every heart. How lamentably we are unaware and altogether blind to the presence of this mortal enemy! Its presence may be veiled under a thin covering of politeness and good manners, the garb of religion, or a refined exterior of culture and education. But it lies deep in the heart. And, worst of all, we neither know nor feel it. We are at peace with it. We don’t hate it, mourn over it, or long to be free from it.
Christ accurately diagnoses man’s fatal disease attributing all sin to “the evil treasure of his heart” (Lk. 6:45). He says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Mt. 15:19). The fact that sin has its residence in the heart explains at least five aspects of human conduct.
First, in all our sinning, our appetites and affections override reason and judgment. Once the battle rages between our unlawful desires and our reason, it is already lost because desires are stronger than reason.
Second, the fact that man listens to his heart and not his mind explains why men do what they know is wrong. In their minds, human beings know that drinking, drugs, gambling, smoking and sexual promiscuity will damage their physical, emotional, financial and social life - yet millions indulge in these vices. The link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer has been clearly established, yet multitudes continue in this deadly habit.
Third, all attempts to better human nature by changing the mind are in vain. Since all sin originates in the heart, no amount of education, religious instruction, threatening, punishment, or any other human effort can repress human wickedness. This also explains why all kinds of social reform, environmental improvement and other humanitarian efforts have failed to produce any radical betterment in human nature and conduct.
Fourth, because sin is seated in man’s heart, all resolutions against sin are doomed to fail. Resolutions are made by the mind and will, both of which are controlled by a wicked and deceitful heart.
Fifth, because sin gains mastery over us through our affections, the battle against sin can only be waged successfully if directed at the heart. All the divine exhortations against sin are focused on the heart: “Keep thy heart with all diligence” (Prov. 4:23); “Circumcise ... your heart” (Jer. 4:4); “Wash thine heart from wickedness” (Jer. 4:14); “Purify your hearts ye double-minded” (Jas. 4:8). In this verse, note the emphasis on the heart and not the mind. The double-minded need to purify their hearts.
The above practical principles must be used to fight sin. Never allow the desires of the corrupt nature to come in contact with outward temptation. Never allow the struggle between desire and reason to burn, for desire is almost always the winner. You know your weak zones. Never enter them.
If suddenly you find yourself face to face with temptation, the only safety is in fleeing. Joseph heeded these rules and triumphed. David, confronting the same temptation, lingered and fell into sin. The result was devastating. The man “after God’s own heart” failed miserably and committed the double sin of adultery and murder.
The Saint And The Heart
There is but one way to change man’s heart - from the inside out. And only God can effect such a change: “A new heart also will I give you” (Ezek. 36:26). This is His gracious promise.
While the heart is the worst part of unregenerate man, it becomes the best part after regeneration. New birth results in a glorious, thorough, and radical change of heart. It is a supernatural change that can only be wrought by the Holy Spirit who takes away “the heart of stone” and gives “a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 11:19). Such strong figurative language indicates a revolutionary heart change - that is neither superficial nor transient.
At the moment of regeneration God honors man’s heart by residing in it through His Spirit (2 Cor. 1:22) and His Son (Eph. 3:17). No depraved member of the fallen race will dwell forever with God in eternity unless God has first dwelt in his heart on this side of eternity.
For several years I have wondered how the infinitely holy God can dwell in man’s heart despite the presence of sin. It is true that at new birth we are saved from the penalty, power, love and guilt of sin, but not from its presence. So how can the One who is so holy that He cannot behold iniquity (Hab. 1:13) accept living within the believer’s heart?
God never dwells in the unregenerate heart, which is ruled by sin. It is only after sin is dethroned by new birth that He condescends to live in our hearts. It is not until “the body of sin might be destroyed” (Rom. 6:6) that God resides in the heart. The word "destroyed" in this verse does not mean “annihilated” but “made inoperative,” its reigning power over man being removed. Either God or sin occupies the throne of the human heart.
The fact that God dwells in the regenerate heart, even though dethroned - sin that could be activated at any moment - is still present, is an act of infinite grace. The heart which was previously wed to sin now becomes wed to holiness. And what is more blessed than the infinite and majestic God making our hearts His home?
In the lost sinner the heart is the source of all trouble. But in the penitent and believing sinner, the heart is the center of Christian living. At the moment of regeneration, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Rom. 5:5). This miracle of grace takes place within us because God “hath shined in our hearts (not our minds), to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Maurice Bassali, MD is a retired specialist in diagnostic radiology. This article is from his book, Medicine For The Soul, available from Believers Bookshelf, Box 261, Sunbury, PA, 17801, USA.
Grace & Truth Magazine February 2000
