The heart of the matter is the heart (continuing Feb 18th's post)

In his prayer to the Ephesians Paul prays that they be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, enlightening the eyes of their heart (Ephesians 1:17,18). The last phrase is a literal translation of Greek, which also follows the word order. The implication (missed in many translations) is that a spirit of wisdom and revelation is the vehicle by which the eyes of the heart are enlightened. This is important because to know Him is to know that He is Love (1 John 4:8). In particular the enlightening of the eyes of the heart includes the revelation of His unconditional extravagant healing love for me and for you. Without this ongoing progressive revelation we will not be able to bear some of the other aspects of the enlightening of our hearts (John 16:12). God's primary goal in the enlightening the eyes of our heart is for us to have an ever deepening heart connection with Him.

It takes two to make and maintain a heart connection in any relationship. In the cross God has done everything necessary, from His side, to make it possible for us to have a heart connection with Him. From our side there are many blocks (or it would already have happened), and we need both a revelation of His heart for us, and a spirit of wisdom to get past the rationalization to even see, let alone dismantle, these blocks.

In this post we will be examining the blocks that prevent a heart connection with Him, and we will be saying more about the Love that enlightens the heart. In subsequent posts we will be considering our response to the enlightening of our hearts and the results of the enlightening of the heart.

The Greek lexicon defines heart (as used in this context) as the centre and seat of spiritual life, the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes and endeavours. That the eyes of the heart need to be enlightened is clear from Matthew 5:18 where Jesus tells us that out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander.

As part of my journey to faith I went through a broken marriage where I initially placed 100% of the blame for what went wrong, on my former wife. At the time I had no doubt about this, and I had murder in my heart. The scarey thing is that I am not at all sure that I would not have followed through, if I had thought I could have gotten away with it! Sometime later the Lord opened my eyes as to my own part in it all, and I came under heavy conviction of sin, selfishness and pride. I saw that I had been blind to my own substantial faults.

After I was saved I came across a verse in Jeremiah 17:9 which says that the heart is deceitful above all and desperately wicked. It was a major step in my acknowledging that the Bible is the Word of God. This book knows us, this book knows me. This revelation would have been devastating had I not known I was loved and forgiven. Gently He started to show me my almost limitless capacity for self deception and rationalization. I started to know something of the depth of the depravity of my heart. I have gotten into trouble for sharing this even with other Christians. As a result of this I have come to the conclusion that many Christians don't even have a clue how easily their hearts deceive them, and just how much our thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes and endeavours need to be enlightened.

As I said, this revelation of the deceitfulness of my heart would have been devestating were it not for the spirit of revelation of the Father’s Heart. With the enlightening of the eyes of my heart came the understanding of how much He loves me (and you). When Paul was enlightened he could say “The Son of God love me, and gave Himself to be the atoning sacrifice for my sin" (Galatians 2:20). When, through this spirit of revelation I see the cost of the sacrifice and the personal nature of it (for me!), I also see that God loves me in spite of the state of my heart. For me this is the saving grace.

This revelation of His love is so much more than a rational understanding of the fact that He loves us, it is to know His love in the three ways that I discussed in the previous post. That is that the revelation of His love comes, yes through an intellectual understanding that He does, but it also comes by the Spirit (who testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God Romans 8:16) and by experience, as the love of God is poured out in our hearts (Romans 5: 5). This tangible revelation of His Love is meant to comfort our hearts, to strengthen our hearts, to bring peace and security, and to equip us to be all that we can be in Him. The heart of the matter, is the heart!

Knowing and experiencing the unconditional love of the Father enables me to get honest with myself, and creates a safe place with Him where He can enlighten the eyes of my heart without destroying me. In the safety of His unconditional love I can increasingly bear the truth about my incompleteness and know that just as a loving earthly parent loves his or her child even when they have done wrong, so He continue to love me even in my imperfections. In the security of this love I can allow Him to deal with what needs to be dealt with in my life, and so be transformed by the enlightening of my heart. Truly the heart of the matter, is the heart