Why the HEART is the key...

We talked about the PULSE point of the heart a couple of weeks ago. We talked about how it was the "seat of all of our motives". To illustrate, we had two treasure chests. In the one, we had different pictures or objects to show the different motives that we could live our life for and we talked about how most of us struggle with several motives, that at times compete against each other for dominance in our decisions. In the second chest, we had an envelope with the word "Christ" on it and we talked about how desiring a pure heart is a heart with only one motive in the chest...so to speak. We talked about all the "good" motives, such as family or being a good steward of what we have, things God has commanded us in His Word to handle responsibly and take care of. How are those taken care of if I only have one motive? The answer is that Christ takes care of all those things. Ecclesiastes 8:5 tells us the wise heart knows the proper time and the proper procedure for every delight and as we know from Psalm 9:10, wisdom begins when your #1 priority is set...that priority being God.

This battle for the heart is KEY to our lives here on earth. Why? Check out this verse below.

Mark 7
20 And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you.
21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,
22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.
23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

From our hearts, we sink or swim. When our hearts are pure, or basically have the one motive of Christ, we just follow them, sometimes with the opposition of our other senses. Still, we must always check ourselves and make sure our motive is not compromised in our decisions and actions, because that's where the problems begin.

Please continue to pray for us as we keep trying to be the church in Palm Bay at Bay West Church. Please pray that our hearts as individuals that make up the church can be centered on His purpose...only one motive in the chest.