Getting the Holy Heart of God into the Muscle Head of Man Perhaps the Apostle John was called the Beloved because he placed his mind against the Lord’s heart and got the beat of it into his head. Many get saved and emotive, and this is good, but immature; few there are which get the mind of Christ, and with it, “emotions organized by trained habit into stable sentiments,” which is better, and mature (quoted part by C. S. Lewis). God figuratively tore down the Tower of Babel immediately (He also really did do it over time by the agency of erosion and decay) when he disrupted man’s plans and confused their languages (and consequently their minds) at the base of their monumental error of judgment. They were scattered to an isolated confinement-like existence until the time appointed by God came for them to re-congregate under the open heavens above an upper room of a simpler construction (of both thought and material) than that which was used previously to build their towering but colossal mistake. But even Christians who get it right from the heart are too often wrong in the head. Unification at the heart level birthed the body of Christ, but as time went by and persecution grew, a unification at the head level was needed to keep that body moving in coordinated unison. There is great power in heart agreement, no doubt (and we need more of it), but there is even greater power in both heart and head agreement inside first the one, then inside the two or three gathered, and finally, the many congregated. Being in one accord is singularity of heart AND doctrinal agreement. God is moving in this hour, and that movement is from the cold and darkened understanding in the basement, up all the stairs and into the hot and sky-lightened revelation in the attic. We are the beloved in Him too, just as John is in his own special way, and it is high time to be sky high in both sentiment AND understanding. As Arthur Custance said, “The words of Scripture are for children, but the thoughts are for men.” We are inundated with more than “some” apostles and prophets, probably not enough evangelists, and plenty of teachers (less so genuine pastors), than we can shake a stick at today. But when will those gifts resident in so many result in “the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ [?]; [when will] we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ [?]” (See Ephesians 4:11-14). If all are chiefs, there’ll be no Indians. We Christians are sheep and we follow, and when there are too many goats and too many wolves and not enough Shepherd in our midst, we become scattered and disorganized. If we were really chiefs, than scattering us would only mean the advancement of the gospel; but if we are Indians disguised as chiefs, we are like sheep without a Shepherd. Yes, the genuinely mature in Christ need to lead and mentor us, but alas, many are not genuinely mature enough to stand in those shoes yet. “we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to GROW UP IN ALL ASPECTS into Him…So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, IN THE FUTILITY OF THEIR MIND, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, BECAUSE OF THE HARDNESS OF THEIR HEART” (Ephesians 4:14-15, 17-18, my emphasis, NASB). To grow up is to get sentimental thoughts and smart hearts; instead of hardening your heart and softening your brain, soften your heart and harden your mind into a firm conviction about sound doctrine. God wants that Seed of Christ nurtured in the bed of your heart-land to grow up into a tree of righteousness, mature, stately and storm tested. And it is done so by faith, and faith from the heart alone, from the beginning to the end. But what is the end? Fruit only happens at the end of a mature branch. The sap of carnality in our heads is supposed to be displaced by the flow of life from our hearts, but too often the marbles fall out by the over-pooling sap. Custance also said: “Reason without Faith is materialism—and therefore incomplete. Faith without reason is superstition—and therefore wrong.” “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Corinthians 14:20 NASB).
Posted on: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 23:23:09 +0000
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