Food for ThoughtIS IT FROM OUR HEARTS
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.”
~Psalm 19: 14 King James Version

We sing the songs of faith but do we really mean what we are singing? Are we singing from our hearts or have the songs become so familiar to us that we don’t pay attention to the words? “I believe in a hill called Mount Calvary, I’ll believe whatever the cost”. Do we really believe in the power of our resurrected Saviour? If we do, why do we doubt Him? “He leadeth me oh blessed thought”. We sing the song but we plan our days and schedules without asking Him first what He wants us to do on that day.

“I serve a risen Saviour, He’s in the world today. I know that He is living whatever man may say. I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer and every time I need Him, He’s always near. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way. He lives, He lives salvation to impart. I know that He is living. He lives within my heart.” However, there are times when we act like He is still dead. We go around with frowns and instead of encouraging people, we discourage them with our harsh, judgmental, sarcastic and critical words.

“I’ll go with Him through the garden” yet we leave Him to pursue worldly pleasures, sometimes going to places that displease Him and watching movies that hurt Him and doing things that we know are against His will. We spend more time watching television than we do with Him. “There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, no not one, no not one. None else could heal all our soul’s diseases, no not one, no not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is done. There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, no not one, no not one”. We sing this love song to Him but instead of trusting Him and looking to Him and following in His footsteps, we sometimes look to our friends for the answers to our problems and heartaches and we try to follow in their footsteps and be like them.

It is a very dangerous thing to put our eyes on anyone or anything other than our blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ! He paid a terrible price for our salvation, His life. His blood is the river that we can plunge in and be cleansed from all of our sins and we should follow Him and Him alone. Only Jesus can take the pain, anguish, horror, desperation, loneliness and sadness from our hearts. Only Jesus stays with us when everybody else leaves us.

Indeed, He is the greatest friend we have and we should look to Him and Him alone for the answers to our hurting hearts. We are to pray for one another, encourage one another, and have fellowship with one another but Jesus must be the first priority in our lives. He is the only one who can mend a broken heart, a broken home and a fragmented life. It is Jesus who satisfies our deepest longings to be loved.

Our spouses, children, families and friends love us but nobody loves us like Jesus loves us. His love is beyond compare because not only does He give us love; He is Love! His love is unconditional and lasting. His love is refreshing and soothing. His love penetrates the places in our hearts that hurt so badly that we haven’t told anyone. His love takes away the pain, horror and anguish of our past and His love will keep us through the dark and lonely valleys in our lives. He will rejoice with us when we are happy and He will weep with us when we are hurting.

Everything that we say or do should come from our hearts. If it isn’t coming from our hearts, it doesn’t mean anything and stinks in the nostrils of Jesus. For those of us who sing and write, if we aren’t singing and writing from our hearts our service to Jesus is empty of power and in vain. One day, we will give an account of the way we have used the talents He has given us. What will He say when He looks at you on that day? Will He look at you with joy and happiness in His eyes, or will He look at you with sorrow in His eyes? There are people who have been given a voice to sing for Jesus yet they use every excuse they can find not to sing. May God forgive us for not serving Him with all of our hearts and from our hearts!

Joanne Lowe
April 28, 2007

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lamb-rightThe purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.