Thursday, May 04, 2006

The Engrafted Word

Wow! It has been a long time since I last posted. My old computer shut down on me, and I was without for a few weeks. I've been back up, but almost forgot about my blog in the mean time. Anyway, here we go again......


DIMMENSIONS OF CHRISTIAN MATURITY: The Engrafted Word

The story is told of Calvin Coolidge who attended church alone because of the sickness of Mrs. Coolidge. When he returned home he went up to his wife’s room to see how she was feeling. She promptly reassured him she was doing fine, and asked him if he had enjoyed the sermon. He replied weakly, "It was good."
"What was it about?" she continued.
"Sin," he said.
"What did the minister say?"
"He was against it."

James 1:21-25 gives us more instruction than merely living against sin. He stresses the fact that if we would mature in our faith, we must take faith in Christ seriously enough that it changes our behavior.

James is addressing Christian people, and insists that we must be willing to listen to what God says to us and then modify our behavior to conform our will to God’s will. In order to do that, we must have His Word written in our hearts (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:3). It’s really as simple as that.

In the Proverbs, Solomon said, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). The use of the word "heart" is often used figuratively in the bible to represent the feelings, the will and even the intellect of man. It, likewise, expresses the center of human will and motivation. Consider another Proverb of Solomon, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee" (Proverbs 23:7).

Even Jesus addressed the subject of the heart controlling our actions when he said, "…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matthew 12:34; see also Luke 6:45).

When we consider these passages, it seems clear that simply saying that we are Christian is not enough. If we are to do that which is right and pleasing to the Lord, we must have His Word written on our hearts—the engrafted word.

It is not enough to know the Word. We must let it rule our lives—our actions and conduct—so that may adequately convey the love of God in a world so filled with hate and animosity.

"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35, emphasis added).