Spiritual angiogram

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.  – Luke 6.45

I was saved in 1974 while in college in Pennsylvania. I thank the Lord for the good churches I found and the things I learned and the foundations that we laid in my life. They had a role in making me the man I am today.

But along the way I came across situations where folks seemed to think that the best way to make good Christians was to fix the outside with the hope that the inside would somehow follow.

Needless to say, that didn’t work. It forces, compels, and encourages people to conform on the outside, without any change where it matters. Nothing of eternal value happens when that is our focus.

Instead, we need to learn that, as a song I heard puts it, we need to change our hearts before we can change our shirts.

Jesus makes it clear that it is our heart that is the source of all we say and all that we do. A good man with a good heart will bear good fruit and an evil man with an evil heart will bring forth evil fruit.

So our focus must be on ensuring our heart is right. We do that as we read and apply God’s word in our lives. We do that as we hear God’s word taught and allow the Holy Spirit to impact on our hearts. We do that by seeking the mind of Christ and focusing on things above.

Nearly three years ago now I had major heart surgery. Nothing would have fixed my health without no matter how I lived or what medicines I took. It needed to be fixed. After my angiogram the doctor showed me exactly what needed to be fixed.  Maybe we need to do a spiritual angiogram to see how are hearts are doing. Search me O God, and know my heart…