Monday, October 10, 2016

Learning and Living By Heart

UV 2090/10000 Learning By Heart
Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart
Proverbs 4 v 21

The uni-verse exhorts us to keep a continual focus on the Word of God. The saying, “Out of sight, out of mind” should be modified in this context as : “Out of heart, out of sight, out of mind, out of life.” Whatever is most valuable finds a place in the core of our lives- our hearts. Our understanding of the Word is the mustard seed that grows and keeps growing into a great tree of faith, love and hope. It is the seed that produces much fruit of wisdom and of the spirit in our lives. The Word guards our hearts from within against both folly and sin. Out of the heart are the issues of life. The Word will mingle with all the issues of our lives and purify and perfect these. The Word stored in our hearts will keep us from the lust of the eye, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Sin is conceived in the desires of our hearts. The Word acts as a contraceptive to prevent even the conception of sin in our hearts. The Word will act as a sieve or filter of our emotions and the words that emanate from our mouth.

The law that is written on paper or even on stone is often violated but the law of the Lord that is written by the Spirit on our hearts is not violated. The very fact that we voluntarily and wholeheartedly store it in our hearts imply that we delight in obeying the law of the Lord. It will keep us from stumbling in the dark. It will produce health, longevity, honour and well being in our lives. The Word in our hearts will illuminate the path we should take, step by step, action by action, word by word. It will clarify our vision and enable us to fulfil our God-given purpose. It will impart peace to us and teach us patience. The Word stored in our hearts is our constant companion comforting us, encouraging us, inspiring us, guiding us, leading us. It is our teacher 24 x 7 all the days of our lives. It gives us strength from within to face the crisis and storms in our lives.

We store the Word in our hearts by memorising and meditating on it, line by line, precept by precept, day by day. It enriches our understanding not just of spiritual aspects of life but every aspect- physical, intellectual, financial, emotional, psychological, familial and social. Human hearts are not made to treasure money, gold, silver or precious stones as these cannot by any means be stored therein. They are not even made to store memories for these fade with time. They are not made to store the finite knowledge and wisdom of man. They are constructed so that we can store the instructions and promises of the Lord. These become the spiritual DNA of our new nature in Christ.

Prateep V Philip

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