Face to Face with Our Heart
A week ago Phillip and I attended a community impacted service dedicated to the Trayvon Martin injustice. The message was given by Pastor Marlin Harris and the sermon was entitled “Brother Against Brother.” He outlined lines some key points about why we show violence toward one another. The major point He expressed was violence flows from the heart. The heart is what this post will be about. From addictions to anger to lust to greed to violence, these things are not purely surface issues, but they are matters of the heart. So that makes it a hard matter to deal with. We are always quick to condemn people like Mr. Zimmerman. Yes, he is wrong for the crime he committed and should be punished accordingly, but can we say we do not have the same hate, anger, and resentment that Mr. Zimmerman held in his heart. The apostle Paul said “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith” (2 Cor. 13). If we were to have a face to face chat with our heart what would that conversation reveal? Would we find that jealous entangled us? Would we find that anger drives us? Could it be that lust consumes us? Or pride defines us? The scripture says “above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov.4:23).
Jesus said “anyone who is angry with a brother or sisterwith out cause will be subject to judgment….anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:21-28). Our heart is our most precious thing and we should be greatly concerned about what is in it. Hate will lead to murder, anger to strife, and lust to sexual immorality. If we allow sinfully things take residence in our hearts it is only a matter of time before those things manifest themselves physically. The Trayvon Martin case is sad, but it is the fruit of our hearts. The way to bring justice to Trayvon and others like him is not merely wearing hoodies, or marching at rallies. The way to bring justice is to turn inward and ask God to remove from our hearts everything that provokes us to sin.
Written by: Brandon Render
Amen Brandon.
The whole issue with Trayvon has been blown way out of proportion in that we are not looking at what’s important here. A boys life has been taken away and anger has now turned into public outrage that we keep demonizing Mr. Zimmerman and this has ultimately removed us from focusing on the fact that this whole event is indeed a tragedy.
The ones who are hurting the most are the family of Trayvon. Whatever took place, the public outrage cannot heal the family experiencing this loss.
The human heart is a fragile thing that can easily be contaminated by anger that turns into rage that culminates into bitter hatred. We cannot reason with a rational mind if our hearts are poisoned by anger. We must always seek to analyze the issues of our heart before casting the first stone, because if we cast the first stone and are discovered not to be blameless before the Lord, we incur righteous judgement against ourselves. So it is important that in all things, we check ourselves before we wreck ourselves.
Looking at the tragedy I find that humanity is easily united in Anger than it is in Love. It is fearful to think why we gravitate in unity to such negative impulses as oppose to the positive impulses that the world needs to see love in action rather than anger and hatred in action. Just food for thought.
God bless you for this humbling post.
Sherline
Oh great another essay by Sherline. Lol only joking! All joke aside, you are right as a whole people are missing the point and they have failed to understand the lessons this tragedy yields. I love what you said “humanity is easily united in Anger than it is in Love.” That my friend is a very true and powerful statement! I might have to quote you one day lol. God Bless Sista
LOL I honestly tried to keep it short
lol. Quote away my friend quote away.
God Bless
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Amen my brother, we have to judge our own heart, its so easy to point the finger when the problem is with our own heart that holds bitterness and anger. We live in a world that demands their rights and justice yet does not want to be right with God and do whats right before him
Thanks for your insight today
Paul