Matters of the Heart (Part 2)
Let’s talk about emotions… and how anger can open the door to sin but God’s love heals within…
So let’s start by recapping last week’s blog post…
It’s not enough to know we must do it. We must be mindful of our emotions and how anger can open the door for sin if we are not careful.
As I was walking through some anger myself and feelings a whole bunch of emotions, I was also in God’s Word, reading through the Gospel of John again and learning more about Jesus. That was when the following verse stopped me…
“The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.” (John 13:2 NIV)
It brought me not only to what I myself was facing but also to a question that my kids and a few others had asked me around Christmas time… The topic of Judas.
I wasn’t necessarily looking for this message but it was what came. Before we read the Bible, we can pray and ask God to speak through His word and for our hearts to receive what it is we need to see. We can pray to learn more about God and His character too.
So on this day, this verse stopped me so I slowed down to evaluate and study it deeper. I looked up different versions of it to help do so including the ESV.
“During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,” (John 13:2 ESV)
“…put it into the heart…”
I often speak of The Art of a Messy House books, blogs and podcast being inspired by the Book of Nehemiah and this verse… “So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families. I found the genealogical record of those who had been the first to return. This is what I found written there:” (Nehemiah 7:5)
Do you see it…
“…put it into my heart…”
It got me reflecting about the heart. It is about the heart. Not only does God put things on the heart but… Satan watches for a moment when we are tired, weary, angered, distracted, maybe even hangry or whatever it is… to enter and shoot arrows of rage in too. He doesn’t want us to hear what the Lord wants us to hear instead he makes emotions grow and turn into unforgiveness, division, confusion, chaos… I mean look at this world right now.
I am sharing this because recently I experienced this. I felt anger and I am not one who typically does on the level I was feeling it. But I knew it and I knew that it was not good. Still, it was heavy. It was hard and it was loud. So why am I sharing this? It’s also not to just state a problem but instead to state how to combat it. So how can we fight in faith?
Let’s first got back to the passage. In this passage the devil found an opportunity into Judas’ soul. Turning Him bitter and away from Jesus to sin.
But there is hope for us. There is Jesus. And through Him, we have direct access to God. We can turn to God even in the moment we feel the emotions! We must recognize and decide where we will turn.
Judas turned bitter and away from Jesus to sin. Repentance is the opposite. It is turning away from sin to God.
But how did it happen to Judas? What opened the door for it to turn him from a disciple to betray Jesus?
It’s about the footholds in our minds and how they can form. Let’s go back to John 12:3-8. “Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” (John 12:3-8 ESV)
How did Judas see this act ? He saw it as a waste of money when really it was an act of love. There are moment like this and emotions tied to it. There is a lesson though too and it is a powerful one. But are we open to receiving it…
Judas may have felt offended by Jesus correcting him and trying to redirect him. Judas may not have agreed with Jesus. And I can imagine he felt all the feelings when Jesus told him to leave Mary alone.
“You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” (John 12:8 NIV)
Jesus tried here to turn the attention of his disciples to Mary’s act and its significance, but were their eyes receptive or even open to receiving it? Was Judas’? Are ours?
It goes back to the motivation of our heart. Judas was focused or involved in stealing the money donated by others to Jesus. So being corrected and redirected by Jesus, could not have felt good.
In fact, before writing this message, I felt like I needed to keep my mouth shut about something and instead failed to do so. Well, I did for a couple days but then lost control of it and spoke when I knew I should have kept quiet, letting God do the talking. That did not feel good. Why? Because I knew I was wrong.
So what do we do to become open to the opportunity for growth and not the door for sin? We can recognize it and repent in those moments. Turn away from and back to God.
Judas did not do this. For whatever reason, this experience pulled Judas further away. It allowed a door to open for the devil to work in Judas’ heart.
The words “ put into” come from the Greek word ballo which means to throw or to thrust. So it describes the very fast act of thrusting something forward…
a seed of betrayal thrown into his heart
it can come so quickly if we are not careful
it can create a barrier between Jesus and us
However, we all have a choice.
We can hold onto the disagreement, disappointment, or emotion and allow for it to potentially become a possible deal with the devil, OR we can take the thought captive and surrender them to God.
There is hope in those times… in all times. However, we need to recognize it. We need to be open to it. It often won’t feel good but once again, feelings are unreliable. God is dependable. He heals.
Take the thought captive.
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV)
Recognize it
Reject it
Replace it with God’s Truth.
Invite God into whatever it is.
We live in a world where so much gets blown out of proportion, but we don’t need to go spinning that way too.
So here is The Art of a Messy House challenge:
Choose the path of forgiveness, remembering what we sow, we reap.
Have the conversation. First with God. What will you have me do? What do I do with this? Help me with this. It is a choice. Choose to walk in mercy and forgiveness. Lord, help us not leave any doors open for the enemy to enter. Help us see things clearly.
And remember this… God knows our heart… If there is something on it that needs to be healed or that is not good, talk to God about it. Tell Him about it. Lord, I don’t like this. Help me.
Sure, there are things we face that are hard like anything that calls us out of our comfort zone. However, we must pay attention to our hearts and the motivation of our hearts. When God guides us to do that thing, You know how it goes,.. He equips us with what we need to do what we are called to do. However, we must make sure our motivation is driven in and by Him.
Seek Him.
He loves you
Talk to Him and be real. Like…
I don’t know how to do this. This is hard! I need You Lord. I long to make You proud.
But how? How can God be proud of us even in the moments when we may not be our best selves. While I can’t answer for God, but this word was placed on my heart on this topic…
He sees our seeking, even in the faltering and even in the trials, and He honors it. He loves us through it. Like lifting up a baby learning to walk who missteps and stumbles, He lifts us. As if almost saying, “Here, try again. I’ll lift you up. I am right by your side.”
So if anger opens the door to sin, let us remember our hope and how surrendering it to Him (to our Hope) opens the doors to breakthrough and blessings.
Last but never least, it must be noted that anger isn’t always bad. It depends what it is rooted in. Once again it goes back to checking one’s heart and motivation. An example of this is with Saul, David and Jonathon.
“Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David. Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David. In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most. Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’ ” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.” (1 Samuel 20:32-35, 41-42 NIV)
Saul’s anger for David was rooted in jealousy while Jonathan’s was righteous anger. Jonathon was burdened by his father’s unfair and shameful treatment, emotions and plans towards David. David and Jonathon had become dear friends so this became a motivation and burden on his heart. He wanted to help David.
A burden on the heart is often a prompt to start but sometimes that fire is sparked as a prompt to do something too. Maybe it’s to speak for Truth, to shine light and work for the change or to do the hard work of healing to help generations to come. Maybe the burden or prompt is to pray for others. Whatever it is, may we remember to do it. And may we remember this…
Feeling the feelings does not make us sin; it is when we let it fester that can lead us to. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12 NIV) We don’t fail because we felt it. We are more than conquerors through Christ. We can rise with Him and in His strength. We have been given a way to fight it in faith.
Therefore, let’s remember that once again we don’t fail because we felt it, instead we have been given a way to fight it… by faith. Can I get an Amen?!
Our posture in the process matters.
Eyes on eternity and Jesus.
May we lift it out of our hands and lift it to His… we are in His hands. We are His. Let’s run from what is not good, to Him... He who is always good.
“I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (Psalms 91:2 NIV)
So let’s pray…
Dear God,
You are my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. I pray to walk in mercy and forgiveness. Help me not leave any doors open for the enemy to enter. Close those doors that may be open. I don’t want what is not from You. Help me see things clearly. I want to see how You see. I want to live as You call me too. Thank You for helping me with the heart issues and the motivation behind it all. Put it on my heart to walk in what is good and true, and all for You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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God bless!
