But more important that doing things for God, I realize that having personal, experiential and memorable experiences are just as important as doing all the church things.  Don’t get me wrong!  I love reading the word, praying, doing QT, fellowshipping, going to church or doing things in church, but more importantly, I realized that having a personal relationship with Him is the first and most important thing.

Secondly, after having that relationship with Him, I realize how crucial it is to develop moments with our Father where we share a moment together.  I’m not saying something it has to be something so life changing that it completely sweeps you off your feet – though I hope and pray you have those moments.  But rather, moments when you go through great, growing, tough, challenging or questioning time with Him.  All those moments build not only character, but our personal history with God.  And if we don’t have personal history with God, how do we expect to walk on this earth without letting the world trample on us?   Let’s look at David as one example.

David was the youngest of 7, and yet, he killed a massive giant in Goliath because of his prior experiences with God.  When someone read those passages in scripture they’ll said, “it was because God was with him” or because “God anointed him to be king; therefore he had the power to do that”, but remember, just because your anointed King, doesn’t give you instant power – just look at Saul.  Nonetheless, the bible gives us a clue as to how David was able to accomplish this feat.  It was because he killed Lions and Bears when he was tending the sheep; therefore he had ample training in learning to ward off or kill animals who endangered the flock.  I would argue that it was tens if not, hundreds or thousands of moments when he killed all sorts of animals big and small (cubs, wolves, lions, tigers, bears or any other animals) that he found victory in small moments that led him to be confident of his ability to stand up to Goliath.  And, because of his history with God, it allowed him to always be rooted in God and become someone who God said is “a man after my own heart.”  How important is spiritual history?  I would say it’s as important as how much we want to make an impact for the Lord – a whole lot!

Proverbs 27-29

This grouping of proverbs might be my favorite set yet.  I found great advice for being a friend and a parent.  Plus advice on finances and the importance of giving.

But overall, I had to pause in my reading and enjoy one verse that was really beautiful to me:

“As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.”  (Proverbs 27:19)

Sometimes I wonder, where does my heart truly lie?  Well, according to this proverb I have just to look at my own life to see.  It made me think about my past week.  How much time did I devote to selfish pursuits – watching television or shopping for clothes (just as a couple of examples) – versus doing things that truly build relationships, help others, and draw me closer to God?

I think it would be a very revealing exercise for anyone to keep track of their time and then look back on it as a reflection of the heart.  After all, don’t we truly make time for the things that matter to us?

I can think of many examples of people I know whose lives reflect a heart of generosity, gratitude, and loving-kindness.  This is what I want my heart to reflect.  This means I need to spend more time giving to others, being thankful, and showing love and kindness to others than anything else I do in my life.

How about you, what would you like your own heart’s reflection to look like?

When I teach publically, I often find myself saying, “Now if I can’t get ya on a “big sin,” then I bet I can get ya on this one!”

In context, the Holy Spirit is the one who ‘gets ya’ through conviction in our heart. And, there is also no such thing as a ‘little’ or ‘big’ sin; in that God is always dealing with our motives behind our actions.

My prayer in every public teaching I do is that every heart in the room (including mine) will be changed in that moment. If hearts and minds are not changed when God’s Word is taught, then there is no point in me (or the listener) showing up in the first place! And the only way a heart can be changed is through brokenness over an “issue” in their life through the Holy Spirit’s conviction. And the Holy Spirit is only activated to speak, move, and convict through the reflection of God’s Word.

Perhaps you do not personally struggle with an addiction, or lying, or gossip, or even fear. It is easy to walk through each day believing you are “OK” with God simply because your human brain has not picked up a ‘big issue’ on your radar. But, just like the more easily hidden evils like, gossip, worry, and doubt, the sin of complacency in our lives may go easily undetected for days, weeks, and even years—creating one ineffective and unproductive Christian.

Both the OT and the NT has something to say about our tendency to live complacent lifestyles. Let’s look at the OT first; (and I doubt it is by chance this passage is completely directed toward women *wink*).

Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech. In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come. Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist. Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city. (Isaiah 32:11-13, ESV)

This bold statement is made to the women of Jerusalem who were consumed with lives of self-indulgence. They only thought about themselves and what made them happy—their luxuries; instead of thinking about the signs of the times. There was about to be a famine in the land; their tables would be bare while their children starved, but in the midst of their complacent mind-set, they did not care enough to head this warning and make preparations.

Jesus revisits the issue (aka:sin) of complacency in His own words in the NT…

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. (Luke 8:11-16, ESV)

The ‘seed,’ as I underlined above, is considered the complacent believers; people who accept Christ as their Savior, but stop there—people who believe in Jesus and go through the motions of ‘church,’ but fail to actually mature in their faith.

Now, did anyone besides me notice a connection between the complacent “women” in the OT and the complacent “seed” in the NT?

You got it—STUFF! In other words; luxuries…cares…riches…pleasures of life.

These are the roots of a blossoming tree of complacency.

In layman’s terms—the more you think about yourself,

the more complacent you will become.

The more you desire riches, wealth, pleasure, or the luxuries that other people have and you wish you had, the more you are enveloped by the world; and the more you are enveloped by the world, the more difficult it will be to move for God.

The world = complacency = paralyzed selfishness = ineffective believer = sin

So, now that we know what causes complacency in our life, exactly how do we fight against it?

Just so we are clear—there is a fine line between being complacent and being content. Some people live religious,By Kasey Van ritualistic lives while leaning on the crutch of; “Oh—I am just content like God calls me to be.”

On the other side (I guess that would be the side I tend to fall to); people can become addicted to movement; always wanting the next big thrill for God, but never slowing down enough to celebrate and praise Him in the everyday blessings and victories.

Where’s the God-honoring medium? How do we keep ourselves from becoming the ‘Jerusalem women’ of the OT or the ‘seeds among the thorns’ of the NT?

Well, Jesus never, ever leaves us aching for answers…

“As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.”

STEPS TO COMBAT THE SIN OF COMPLACENCY:

1) Don’t just listen to God’s Word being spoken…HEAR it! Go to church, listen to Bible-based teaching, and then…

2) HOLD ON TO IT! Don’t just hear it, act on it! How?…

3) …through HONESTY, GOODNESS, MATURITY, SERVICE to OTHERS, and PATIENCE…why?…

4) …so that OTHERS may see CHRIST (not ‘things’) in YOU!

5) Remember: God did not put you on this earth to gather ‘stuff’ and be ‘happy’ all the time! He put you on this earth to bring hurting, broken, and lost people to the foot of HIS CROSS.

A life rooted in anything else is a life given over to the bore of complacency.

Be grateful for today—determined for tomorrow.

For more information on Kasey Van Norman Ministries, visit our web site at http://kaseyvannorman.com.

But it hurt my heart just a bit.

Wasn’t directed at me. Didn’t even really involve me.

But I suppose that was the problem. (I’m purposefully staying vague here.)

As I brought my little pang of pain to the Lord this phrase came into my mind out of Proverbs: “Guard your heart for out of it comes everything.” (my paraphrase!)

I know that my response needs to be to “guard my heart”… because the response of my heart will determine my thoughts, and later, my actions.

I need to guard my heart from taking on offense; I need to choose to not dwell there, in that little tiny bit of pain that creeped in.

Mmmm, yes.

I was then reminded of the verse in Phillipians that talks about not being anxious for anything but instead with prayer and thanksgiving bringing my requests to God. For if I do, the peace of Christ will guard my heart.

I’m so glad that this “guarding my heart” business is not all my responsiblity. Yes, I have my part to play… but so does Jesus (the Peace-Bringer).

I guard it. He guards it.

Between the two of us we should pretty much have it covered.

That deosn’t mean it’s always easy.

Most of the time the “my part” can be a little bit hard. (And get in the way of the “his part”.)

But with time and maturity and fear of hte Lord it does get easier.

So tonight I’m guarding my heart in the litle things. Making sure that I don’t take on offense unnessesarily. Making sure that I don’t judge someone else’s actions (or intentions, which I can’t fully know anyway, right??). Making sure that I don’t find my worth in the gestures of people, but instead in the greatest gesture of God.

What is it? That greatest of gestures? It’s gift of his Son, his very self, and the presence of his Spirit.

Tonight, he gets my heart. So glad he knows how to guard it well.

STOP.

Q for you: How do you guard your heart? Have you ever thought about this concept?

Love,
A

Click Clink Five | Five minutes a day, unedited.

For those who are asking what the different is, let me explain it to you like this.  Perfection is the striving to make things perfect, while excellence is the best that we have to offer.  If I can bring more clarity to it, I would say perfection is looking at the external result of what’s been done, while excellence is doing our best but caring about our hearts more in the process.  You can say  perfection looks at the outside, while excellence looks in the inside.   I think as Christians, we have to be careful not to judge sin through this lense of perfection but more of excellence.  No ones perfect, therefore we shouldn’t strive to be perfect, instead we should be who we are and do our best.  And if we fail, then we fail, and get back up, lean on the Cross, and try again.  That to me is what I see in the Bible.  An example of a perfectionist person in the Bible is a Pharisee, while an example of a person of excellence is David.

Here’s the practical..if we stop looking at people through the lense of perfection, then we wouldn’t judge people on this qualifier, and instead we’ll be more graceful, forgiving and understanding. That’s the kind of person I want to be.  Excellent, not perfectionistic.

Deacon: Usher, it’s about the attitude of the heart – one cannot judge one’s heart – only God can

Usher: Yeah, but only the musicians and leaders participate – the congregation simply mouth the words and follow the leader

Deacon: Again Usher, you cannot judge

Usher: Let’s do an experiment Deak, I’ll sing and see if anyone shows up?

Deacon: Usher, you can’t there’d be noone left!

Usher: Proves my point Deak – corporate choreographed worship is performance!

My particular interest was how and when did he commit murder and adultery without any of us knowing anything about it? Yes, the minister was true to his word. He disclosed to us how he had broken all of the Ten Commandments. But it played out much different than I thought it would.

That is because of the verses we find here in Matthew 5:21-32. You do not have to kill to commit murder and you do not have to have an extra marital affair to commit adultery. That is because Jesus takes the commandments beyond external and makes them a matter of the heart.             

A Matter of the heart Matthew 5:21-32

The Christian life must go beyond a list of do’s and don’ts. When this happens the emphasis becomes external and this produces legalism. Christianity loses its influence when it is reduced to an external code. Jesus explains why this is inadequate.

Six times Jesus used the expression you have heard it said. He then tells what the external law is in that case and then goes beyond the external to the matter of the heart.

It was the religious who made the mistake of emphasis on the external. The more dedicated and faithful you are as a Christian the more needed is the reminder that external emphasis is not enough, but there needs to be a transformation of the attitude of the heart.

Murder
When God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, one of those was “Thou Shall not murder.” This is the 6th of the 10 commandments. (Exodus 20:13) Now most people breathe a sigh of relief and think aha, here is a command I have not broken. But Jesus took the outward command thou shall not kill and made it a matter of the heart. He went to the spirit of the law. Anyone who is angry with his brother is guilty of murder.

Matthew 5:21-22 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Being angry seems a far cry from cold blooded murder, but Jesus gets to the root of the problem, hate. If you call your brother a pea-brain you are subject to court. If you call your brother a fool you are in danger of the fire of hell.
Matthew 5: 23-24 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
If you worship God and come under conviction about a wrong relationship, then right then to right the wrong relationship. Is that easy? No But that is part of the higher standard of righteousness that Jesus calls us to.

If there is some immediate action on the way to court, settle the matter before you get there.

Matthew 5:25-26 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Jesus went a long way beyond the standard of the Pharisees. Not murdering someone may seem like a breeze, but not getting angry, not letting some unkind words, or even thoughts, bubble out of your heart. Wow! That is some very high standards. The point isn’t who is right or who is wrong, the point is reconciliation.

The point isn’t who is right or who is wrong, the point is reconciliation. As a follower of Jesus Christ you are called on to take quick action to reconcile your differences. Grace is a higher calling than the law.

Adultery

Matthew 5:27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.”

Jesus is referring to the 7th commandment (Exodus 20:14). Jesus says,

Matthew 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Don’t even think it!

Jesus demands more than the purity of the marriage bed, but He even calls for purity of the mind. Even thinking an impure thought is a sin and we need to go to God and ask forgiveness.

Divorce
The Pharisees would approve of divorce as long as a man gave his wife a paper stating she was a free woman, a certificate of divorce. This practice was based on:

Deuteronomy 24:1-3. If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, 3 and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies,

Moses wanted to discourage divorce. If a woman had no certificate of divorce she could not remarry. The divorced woman had no place to go. The law that Moses meant to protect women the Scribes and Pharisees turned to justify divorce.

Jesus goes to beyond the law again:

Matthew 5:31-31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery”

Jesus held up a high standard for marriage. One man married to one woman for a lifelong commitment. His standard of marriage was rooted in creation (Genesis 2:24) the two become one flesh. No dedicated follower of Christ can accept the Pharisees standards. The reasons for divorce in the Old Testiment by Moses was because of the hardness of the peoples hearts.

Jesus takes us to the highest view of marriage, God’s ideal. The two become one flesh. Jesus makes marriage a matter of the heart. It is the hardness of hearts that leads to divorce. Jesus warns against divorce and remarriage. Instead believers are to stay committed to their spouse.

Jesus addresses lust that, attitude of the heart that leads to adultery. King David lusted after Bathsheba which led to adultery. When impure thoughts occur it is the time to turn to God.

Matthew 5:29-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
We must turn from lust, for the sake of the marriage relationship and for our relationship with God. Lust can affect both. We need the power of Jesus to be victorious in this important battle. Too many Christians have fallen in this area.

Jesus calls us to extremes to rid yourself of lust. Drastic measures are needed to keep the mind pure. We need to be immersed in Scripture and in prayer. There is an extreme discipline necessary to preserve our spiritual life. It is a matter of the heart.