I Do The Don't or I Don't The Do

I Do the Don’t

I Don’t the Do

(2-8-04)

Romans 7:14-25

(An excerpt from an E-mail from Joe White, a Promise Keeper Speaker)

Dr. Cooper measured my cholesterol, my HDL and CDL fats, my heartbeat on the treadmill, and the calcification of my arteries. Jesus measures our heart by the words we say (Matthew 12:34), the thoughts we think (Mark 7:21), the things we look at (Matthew 6:22-23), the things we treasure (Matthew 6:21) and the things upon which we set our affections (I John 2:15).

The Greeks called the heart the "cardia"; the volitional center where life makes up its mind. The heart is the pilot of the airplane, the quarterback of the huddle, the engineer of the locomotive. The heart calls the plays; the heart pilots the ship. If my heart is filled (controlled and empowered by) His Holy Spirit, my heart will be absolutely pure, my thoughts will be pure, my eyes will be pure, my words will be kind, my sex life will be righteous, my magazines, my movies, my music, my television will be pleasing to Him, and not conflict with my spiritual growth.

Joe’s words and his life has been and is an encouragement to countless thousands of Christian men across the country. His messages are powerful, spirit filled, truthful, and pointed. Jesus does measure the person’s heart, and mind and actions. His own words tell us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45; Mat.15:18-20) Paul giving a larger, more comprehensive list, although I would doubt exhaustive, speaks of them as being more than just passive thought. Paul speaks of them as actions. (Gal.5:19-21) He also makes sure that it is understood that no one has escaped corruption by these things. (Eph.2:1-3; Titus 3:2-6) God Himself makes it clear that man’s nature is a tendencies towards such things. (Gen.6:5, 8:21; Jer.17:9) [It would be good to note that God is the true author behind all Scripture.]

When a person becomes a child of God through: faith in Jesus, repentance from sins, and baptism, they receive not only the forgiveness of sins, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, deliverance from the kingdom of darkness and so much more, they also receive a new heart, a new mind. (Jer.31:33-34; Ezek.36:24-27; Rom.12:2; 2Cor.3:18; Eph.4:23-24; 1Pet.4:1-8) Does this “new mind” or “new heart” work like our computers do, just delete the old files and then operate under the new programming? Not at all! We are creatures of habit.

We not only do things out of habit, we also think and reason out of the habits of our minds, we also react emotionally out of habit. When a person comes into a relationship with Christ they bring with them all of the habits of their past, including the habits of the heart. Yes we have a new heart and mind but it is not yet the master of direction and life. So what does it take to be a new creature in Christ Jesus?

Here is a hard statement: it is easier to bring about change in a truly sinful person than in a good one. For many who have been raised in reasonably good homes and lived reasonably good lives, coming to Christ is almost just a matter of formality with little real change. They start good and continue in their same goodness. It is hard to convince them to enter into newness because their sins are less obvious, not just to the world but also to themselves.

They, as well as the most hardened sinners must learn to step out of the habits of their lives and step into a walking by the Spirit. This is a new thing for each believer! Why is this true? Because neither the good nor the bad had the Spirit prior to their rebirthing, therefore they could not possibly walk in the government of the Spirits direction. Each and every one of us has always walked under the impulse and directive of the flesh. Even a seemingly good life is still short of acceptable to God. We each must develop the habit of the Spirits rule in life. Not only must the mind be given over to God, so must the heart. The very seat of all that we are, including the seat of our desires must be emptied of its habitual control and the Spirit must be given power to run the habits of our life.