1997-01-21
- Coldness of Heart
Rev. 2: 4-5, "Nevertheless I have one thing against you, because you have left your first love: Remember therefore from where you are fallen, and repent, and do your former deeds."
The sum of Paul's words are this: Though there are many good things to be found in you, yet your first love has been abandoned. Return now to God and the ways of righteousness.
We must examine ourselves and discover if we have caught this cold. Do we walk before God without feeling? Can we blow off our offenses lightly? Have we fallen out of certain practices and endeavors that are necessary to our spiritual walk? If this be the state of our hearts, then it is possible that our first love has been abated.
The remedy:
- Remember our current condition, and the declining state of it. When we come to our senses we must remember our new position and relationship with Christ as new creatures with new natures. This should make us watchful over ourselves.
- We must think of the times when we have fallen from our new position as sons and daughters of God. We should inquire whether we find these times to be times after which we repented or whether we have wallowed in our filthy condition and not repented of our sin. It is important that we feel ourselves spurred to repentance. Looking intently upon our spiritual deformities should excite us to make the greatest effort to correct them.
- We must make an effort to seek out the areas of our lives that have fallen into a declining state. We are quickly aware when our bodies are infirm. We make every effort to keep our heads above water financially. If something is out of sorts in these areas, it sticks in our memory and we address the problem. Now, should we be found negligent in our spiritual lives if there is an area that is in trouble? "He who does most willingly forget his sins here, shall remember them there, most fully and painful hereafter." Paul Baynes
- Lastly, knowing our own hardheartedness, let us look to Christ, who gives repentance and pardon for sin, who takes away our heart of stone, and gives us hearts that are tender and warm towards His will.
"Keep your heart with all diligence and God will look after the universe." A.W. Tozer"A good conscience can sleep in the mouth of a cannon." Thomas Watson
"Peace of conscience is nothing but the echo of pardoning mercy." William Gurnall
Soli Deo Gloria,
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