My church small group has recently been studying the books of Thessalonians and Revelation; these books have a lot of prophecy about eschatology. What's that, you ask? It is what the bible has to say about what the world will be like before Jesus will return. Oh, the Bible has a lot to say about it. As we studied the scriptures, it started to become clearer that these prophecies are not so we can know specific dates or times. But rather, they are designed to prepare the church for the last days.
So, this is my valentine love letter to the church: As the days become darker, the church will need to shine brighter. However, this can only happen if we guard our hearts to remain pliable and soft like God's heart is for his people. This won't happen unless we, the church, are intentional to do so. First, with each other. And then with the rest of the world.
"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23)
At first glance you might think this verse is telling the believer to protect our heart from outside influences or place distance or barriers against things that will hurt your heart. Instead, this passage of scripture admonishes the believer to keep the Word of God tucked deeply in your heart and your gaze fixed on that same word made flesh, Jesus. It is less about keeping things out and more about protecting what is within; there is a big difference. You can only do this if you first read, study, and meditate on the Word.
The same passage in proverbs alludes that guarding our heart will place a gate over our lips. Probably, equally as important in today's social media driven world. Luke 6:45 tells us that, "A good man brings good things out of the good stored in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." Proverbs 15:28 says the words of our mouth are an overflow of what's in your heart. In other words, if your feelings get hurt/ your heart gets knocked, what is inside is what is going to come pouring out.
So how do you 'guard' your heart? Protecting something makes me think of soldiers or armies. Soldiers who need to protect themselves wear body armor. So here is where I am going to suggest a new idea. The well- known scriptures in Ephesians about the armor of God are less about fighting a known enemy outside of oneself, but more about protecting what is deposited within oneself. (Read that last sentence again.) If we want to be a church in the end times that continues to reflect the heart of God, we must remain soft, loving, and pliable as the world gets colder, harsher and darker. God did this when it came to our sin by sending His son, Jesus. As the world becomes darker, being a Christian can be exhausting. This leads to discouragement. Discouragement leads to bitterness.
The bible even warns us that many 'Christians' will grow cold hearted because of it. Matthew 24:12, "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold." Not a few. Not many. MOST. Let that sink in. In what condition would you want Jesus to find you when He returns? Burned out, bitter and cold hearted? Or standing firm for the gospel?
But Jesus also tells us the way to counteract this. Matthew 11:29, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. For I am gentle, and lowly in heart. And you will find rest for your souls."
I like the message translation for this one. " Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
----->Right here I need to confess this is an ongoing work for me. I am an extrovert and highly sensitive. I carry emotional baggage from my childhood that makes me care a little too much for the approval of others. Even as I write this post, I am struggling with these things. And I make mistakes that I have to acknowledge, then seek the Lord's forgiveness and repent. The enemy knows my strongholds; He knows what buttons to push. Therefore, every day, I have to place my hurts on the altar of faith and allow God's Word to do a transformative work in my own heart. Why daily? In the book of James, we are told He doesn't desire sacrifice but instead mercy. This takes everyday type work; specifically, it requires daily preparation. And it also reminds me that I will never overcome my need for my Savior.
So let us look at Ephesians 6 and the armor that daily we should put on before engaging with a lost world.
1. Put on the full armor of God, so you can stand firm and defeat the enemy's schemes. To me this admonition is really saying you have to start each day taking off your fleshly nature and put on 'your new self' which is daily being renewed by the Holy Spirit. We cannot expect to successfully engage the world, defeat the schemes of the enemy and protect our own hearts, unless we fully walk in the Spirit. When we do, all the qualities of the Spirit will naturally cover us, just like the armor does for a soldier going into battle. Colossians puts it this way. "Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. "
2. Belt of truth. A belt girds you up. It helps you move without tripping over yourself. As we get closer to Christ's return, the bible tells us there will be many false teachers. You can't recognize a lie, if you don't first know the truth. In John 8:44, Jesus tells us that Satan is the father of lies. It is imperative as the church that we know the truth of the Word of God for ourselves. Podcasts and commentaries are great, but someone else's interpretation of scripture will never supersede the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Read your Bible. It has everything you need.
3.Breastplate of Righteousness in Place (in front of your heart): If you really want to guard your heart from becoming bitter, cold, and jaded you have to first really understand where your own righteousness comes from. The truth is, we have none. It is the righteousness of Christ that is imputed to us by his death on the cross, that helps us stand at all. A holier than thou attitude with other people doesn't communicate God's love for them. Rather, when you really understand that none of us are worthy of grace, it is much easier to show it to others.
4.Shoes for Readiness of Gospel of Peace: Shoes are important for navigating rocky terrain. Life can be hard. Bad things happen even to good people. Our shoes, which protect our tender soles or souls (intentional pun), are the truth of the Gospel. The Gospel is the source of hope, even when things get tough. The bible says we have to be ready, even in tough times to demonstrate this. 1st Peter 3:15: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."
5.Shield of Faith: this passage in Ephesians says the shield of faith is to extinguish the fiery arrows of the evil one. This is big. And I am going to suggest more so for women. Women always believe that people, especially other women, act with ulterior motives. We read into everything. And that is exactly what the enemy wants you to do. He wants you to assign motive to other people's behaviors, while simultaneously expecting them not to do the same to us. The enemy knows what will trigger you and your insecurities and he often will use other people to do it. The shield of faith extinguishes these jabs by quenching them with what God says about forgiveness, your worth, and His mercy. We choose to believe THE truth instead a fabricated truth and that makes it much easier not to take offense that wounds the heart.
6. Helmet of Salvation: Be confident in your salvation in Christ because it gives you every necessary tool we need to operate in the Spirit; we put on the mind of Christ. :"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:3-8
7. Sword of the Spirit - And lastly church, remember the Sword of the Spirit, which is scripture, is a defensive weapon, not offensive. Don't use scripture as a weapon to hurt people. Speaking the truth when warranted in love is important. (Ephesians 4:15) But the transformative goal is to renew our own minds and hearts so that when the enemy speaks lies, we can counteract it with truth. Keeping your heart soft requires building a hedge around it with the Word.
Guard your heart, for everything you do flows out of it. How do we do that? By staying gentle and soft hearted to cold hearted world. And how do we do that? We do that by staying very close to Jesus Christ through worship, prayer, and the Word...every day.
"Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. (He's coming back soon.) Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:23
