Spirit Filled Heart

 Psalms 119:105-112, Romans 8:1-11

We talked last week about Greek thinking which promoted that your mind had hierarchy in your life over your body. Now what I love about the Hebrew language of the Old Testament is there is no word just for mind – but the heart is the soul that the seat of emotions and thinking comes. We see this is Psalms 119. The Psalmist is talking out of his heart about his love of scripture and God’s righteous ordinances. He talks about God’s decrees being the joy of his heart and he will incline his heart, incline meaning willing or favorably disposed toward an action, belief, or attitude. Here it is to do the action of performing – doing God’s statutes.

We return to Greek thinking Paul of the New Testament in Romans where he talks about setting their minds, not their hearts, on the Holy Spirit. Doing so will bring life and peace. He condemns those who set their mind on the flesh which leads to death.

The major difference between the Psalmist and Paul here is the beginning of the New Covenant brought by salvation from Jesus’ work on the cross. Paul talks about God sending God’s son in the likeness – humanness of sinful flesh to deal with sin once and for all giving us the ability to fulfill the law requirement since we now walk according to the Spirit.

We use the phrase that Jesus lives in our hearts. Is this the Hebrew heart which includes the soul? Children raise the question how can the physical man Jesus climb and fit into our physical hearts? Here Paul explains that Christ is in you through the Holy Spirit. This Spirit helps us live a righteous life. Not only does the Spirit help us now, but the power of the Spirit which raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies when we die.

So does this Spirit dwell in our mind, our hearts, or our souls? I believe the Hebrew language has it right putting all of these in a central place. In this central being of me the Spirit can direct my mind, my heart and its desires, and my bodily actions. May we all have and use the Spirit filled heart. Amen

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Join Me on a Lenten Journey

For those of you not familiar with Lent, it is a season of forty days, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means "spring." The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry. Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. Today, Christians focus on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others. Easter comes early this year. Many of us not brought up in this tradition can still embrace its emphasis of focusing on the gifts Christ has brought into your lives and finding ways to share the love of Christ to others. This emphasis of love goes along well with the beginning of Lent this year, Ash Wednesday, falling on all days – Valentine’s Day. So whether or not you plan
Read more

Setting Your Hope in God

 Disclaimer: Paul talks about the Rapture in this passage a concept I still struggle with. I believe that once you die you go direct to the Lord, so bodies awaiting till the rapture to rise is hard for me to grasp. I can see how Paul was comforting the Thessalonians here but was his concept correct? Add any comments you wish to this bafflement of mine. That said, I wrote this per the text. What do you all think? Psalms 78:1-7; I Thessalonians 4:13-18   The psalmist in Psalms 78 is not only telling his current audience to listen to his teaching but to pass it on from one generation to the next. Just like he has heard it from his ancestors, he asks the Israelites to teach them to the coming generations. They are to teach them to the children yet unborn so that these children will teach their children. Why? So, they should set their hope in God, not forgetting God’s works. Fast forward to the New Testament where Paul is passing on this hope to the Thessalonians. The question these bel
Read more

Do What they Teach, Not What they Do

  Matthew 23: 1-12; I Thessalonians 2:9-13   Jesus when he talks about the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 23 basically says: “Do what they teach but not what they do.” What he questions most is their motivation. They do what they do to be seen by others. They wear fancy robes and love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues. They love to be greeted with respect. All this Jesus sums up in the word pride or not being humble. He states then that those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Years later Paul writes to the Thessalonians telling how he did what Christ had instructed. That he was humble leading a life worthy of God, his motivation being for God’s glory not his own. He tells that not only are the Thessalonians his witnesses of this but God also. They have seen how pure, upright, and blameless his conduct has been. He encourages the Thessalonians to do the same. To live a life worthy of
Read more