The Heart Of The Issue (Part II)

In my last blog entry, I spoke about the state of humanity (and not just the police force and the recent police-involved killings). Society on a whole is getting worse and crimes against humanity are getting more gruesome, merciless and downright inhumane.

I had also mentioned that our social issues are not just mentally-based, but spiritual; and if we have spiritual issues plaguing a social nation, then spiritual ammunition is needed.

But what kind of spiritual ammunition does the world need?

Are you ready for the answer? I know you are not, but here goes.....

Love.

Yes, love!

You think I am joking, don't you? ...but I am not.

Let's go it to The Word to prove it.  Romans 13 starts out with Paul the Apostle encouraging people to render respect to the authorities. He even goes further to encourage the masses to pay their taxes and whatever else is due to others (in verse 7). In verse 8, he adds not to owe anything to anyone, but to love one another; but the verse that seems to summarize these previous verses is  Romans 13:10 which says "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law". Love, true love does not harm his neighbor. 

The 'Love' chapter as it is called (1 Corinthians 13) completely defines what true love is: it is other-centered; it doesn't seek its own, but it's giving, it's long-suffering and kind; it isn't proud or puffed up and doesn't even get angered quickly! Love doesn't think to do evil<-- Do you see that? Love doesn't rejoice in destruction, death, murder and violence. It seeks peace and kindness. It's all about helping one another, not hurting one another.

BUT, you may still be doubtful about this solution, and may recall that I said we need a spiritual solution for the world's problems, so why did I mention love? It is because love is spiritual. It's definitely not man-made. Love is more than just a feeling, HE is a Person! In 1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:16, we are told God is Love; and in Galatians 5:22, the first fruit of the Spirit is love. 

If God is love, and love is what humanity is lacking, then we need God. He is our solution! But we also know, not everyone wants God, and not everyone cares to love everybody; so the hearts of many are growing increasingly colder and more hateful ("And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" Matt 24:12). But if we were to be saved from our ourselves, we need Jesus like never before. We need to study His Word (to learn how He lived in the midst of those who hated Him), we need to love like He loved, walk like He walked, live like He lived (while we lived among us).

So there you have it. It seems simple, but it's not. You cannot 'simply' love your enemies; only The Almighty Father can give you that kind of power. It's time, it's time to choose:
 
- Choose love and side with God who IS LOVE!

Or

- Choose hate, and grow colder ever day, being consumed with it.

By your actions, you show whom you are serving...
 

Choose you this day whom ye will serve.

The Heart Of The Issue

It is just the end of April, still pretty early in the year, and already the news is filled with national unrest, bloodshed, fierce natural disasters, wars and an increase in police-involved brutalities.

 

In the news today, the recent death of an unarmed black man in police custody has caused the most debilitating rioting and looting in the Baltimore area since Martin Luther King Jr's assassination. There seems to be an increase in police-related fatalities in the last six-months alone, re-igniting already fragile race relations in many urban communities. 

 

Many are looking for solutions.

Some have proposed re-education, body cameras and other suggestions; but will that be enough? Will any of these put an end to the increasing police-force issues our nation is facing? When will we have police/justice reform?

 

Despite the now 'constant news' of some sort of police-involved death, we also have deeper issues to deal with across the nation and worldwide. There is a rise in human trafficking, violence, child abuse, cruelty to people and animals, battery, fraud, lying, cheating, identity and other types of thefts, and the list goes on and on. How do we fix these social plagues that we see on a daily basis? Could it be that humanity's best efforts will never be good enough to fix our broken society? I believe these deep-seated issues are more than just mental but spiritual.

 

No number of body cameras and re-education of the police forces will eradicate accidental and purposeful fatalities. There may be biases and prejudices in the police force, but there are some in all of us as well. We all need some form of 'reformation' but it doesn't start and end with the mind, but it must penetrate the spiritual self. If these issues weren't spiritual, they would have been fixed already...

 

We have a heart problem. You cannot put a wolf in sheep's clothing and expect him to act like a sheep. He may mimic sheep-like behavior for a while, but sooner or later, he shows his true colors. The same goes for us all: our prejudices, hatreds, favoritisms and jealousies all come out in the open when we are tested. If our words don't reveal who we are, our actions will.

The Bible speaks about our desperately wicked heart (in Jeremiah 17:9). The unconverted heart is open to all types of evils. No matter our status, race, religion (or lack thereof), we are all capable of the most heinous crimes.

There is a song that says 'Jesus is the answer for the world today' and this is the absolute truth. Some might jest or jeer about this solution, but there is no other solution for a world that is sinking deeper in wickedness, hatred and turmoil.

 

We are in for some portentous times. The Bible warned us about the troublesome times we would be facing before earth's final days, and each day, we are seeing them unfold.

 

If you haven't noticed yet, we (as a part of the human family) are not improving, this world is not getting better and this, we are told, is just the beginning, but praise GOD, there is Hope and He has a Name...

 

PART II to follow...

 

 

Following Your Heart

There seem to be two kinds of people in the world:

Those who are led by their heads and those who are led by their hearts. 

There is a great move in the world for folks to 'follow their hearts'. For some, emotions and feelings are the kings of their lives. They let their feelings dictate their lives. But the Bible has nothing good to say about the heart.

In Jeremiah 17:9, The Word says "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" 

Imagine that! The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked! But yet, we are told to 'follow our hearts'. I don't know many who would follow a deceitful and desperately wicked thing, but yet we are encouraged to do so in this world.  The Bible tells us that the 'just shall live by faith'. It never said anything about living by feeling or following our hearts. So let's live by faith and not feeling each and every day of our lives!

Near to the Heart of God

*Exhale*

Sometimes, that is all it takes to re-charge :-)

The lyrics of the following song is speaking to me, so I wanted to share it here, 'Near to the Heart of God':

There is a place of quiet rest,
Near to the heart of God;
A place where sin cannot molest,
Near to the heart of God. 

Refrain:
O Jesus, blest Redeemer,
Sent from the heart of God;
Hold us, who wait before Thee,
Near to the heart of God.

There is a place of comfort sweet,
Near to the heart of God;
A place where we our Savior meet,
Near to the heart of God.

There is a place of full release,
Near to the heart of God;
A place where all is joy and peace,
Near to the heart of God.

What a wonderful place to be! Right near to the very bosom of God. There is no place more peaceful, no place more wonderful, no place that I would rather be, than right near to God's Heart <3 

Come join me, there is PLENTY of room before God's presence!!