How do you react to the following question, "Have you invited Jesus into your heart?" When I first heard this, prior to becoming a Christian, it sounded like sugary sweet kid's stuff in the realm of Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy. During the first century the followers of Jesus were calling themselves "Christ-ins". They claimed that the spirit of Jesus had come to live in their hearts. The Roman culture responded, as I initially did, by treating such a concept as childish and unbelievable.
In 2 Chronicles, Chapter 5 we see the foreshadowing of this very thing. The glory of the Lord filled the house of God after the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the "Most Holy Place". The temple was now the central place of worship. God's presence had entered the heart of Israel.
Paul enquires in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 3, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" If we trust and believe in Jesus, our hearts can become a "Most Holy Place" where God takes up residence.
In 1 John, Chapter 4 the Apostle states, "He (God) who is in you, is greater than he (Satan) who is in the world." John also says, "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
From Nahum, Chapter 3 we learn that people in Nineveh had no room for God in their hearts. They had the unfaithful heart of a prostitute. Their spiritual and moral adultery had pushed God out of their lives.
In the Gospel of John, Chapter 14 Jesus says, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. . . . . .On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
In Chapter 19 of Luke's Gospel, we hear of Jesus driving the buyers and sellers out of the temple saying, "It is written, My house is a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves. This scenario can apply to our internal world as well. Is our heart (the temple of God) full of the concerns and tempations of the world or is it a quiet place of prayer where we connect daily with God?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment