My Heart In His Hands--His Heart Through Mine
Posted: May 15th, 2010, 1:49 am
simpletruth #138j Revisited 15May10 salicart@msn.com
HOSEA 10:12—Part Ten: My Heart In His Hands—His Heart Through Mine
by rev. dave c
Hosea 10:12, Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you (NKJV).
The Law of the Harvest teaches us that “We reap what we sow...and we sow what we reap.” We have spent quite a bit of time discussing what we should be sowing, where we should be sowing, how much we should be sowing, and why we should be sowing. We have talked about how God’s plan of abundance is centered upon our willingness to work and to give generously, and it is to be administered by His Church. Malachi 3:10 admonishes us to "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows (NAS). Concordantly, Second Corinthians 9:10&11 is God’s promise to the Church at Corinth, not to the individuals: Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed [the storehouse] and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You [the Church] will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God (NIV).
Part Eight of this series is an encouragement to do the right thing in giving of our finances, our talents, and our time—even if we don’t feel like it, and even if we have to begin with just a portion while praying for the Holy Spirit to soften our attitudes (“break me, Lord...and give me change”). This raises the question of whether our hands or our heart is more important to God. Although I maintain that to do the right thing for whatever reason is better than to do the wrong thing for any reason, the best answer to the question is, “Yes.” Our heart pushes us toward righteousness as our hands pull us forward, and all the while Jesus is working to change the former and strengthen the latter. Our hands and our heart are perfect complements—that is, they form a marriage of intent and action. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:8-10, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (NIV). Simply put, we are saved to do good works. Good works are the fruit and the evidence of repentant salvation (Ac 26:20).
Like all good things that God has designed for us, Satan has his ways and means to corrupt an individual’s desire to fulfill the tithe and to give generously. If the Deceiver can not stop the returning to the Lord of the harvest His portion of our material goods, then the Adversary works to turn our worship of God through generosity of spirit into a source of worship for his evilness through a spirit of arrogant superiority. By the time of Christ the tithe had become a fixed source of pride in religion for Israel’s leadership. In Matthew 23:23 Jesus intoned, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former (NIV). The Almighty is clearly telling us that both our attitudes and our actions are important. Materially complying with the letter of the law does not satisfy it, but neither does being “spiritual” in our minds and hearts without outward manifestations of committed obedience.
Matthew 23:23 tells us that the more important matters of the law are justice, mercy and faithfulness. Notice the similarity of this passage to Micah 6:8 [He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (NIV)], and to Zechariah 7:9 [This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another (NIV)]. All three of these verses list justice and mercy, and then variously speak of faithfulness, humility, and/or compassion. We are being told that Godliness must be an admixture of justice and mercy. Justice says that I am guilty of sowing high treason and that I deserve to reap eternal damnation. Mercy says that I have been granted a full pardon by the Governor of the Universe. This knowledge of God’s love must stir in me faithfulness as a commitment to obedience; humility of spirit before my Creator, Sustainer, and Lord; and compassion for my fellow man. If we sow for ourselves righteousness through the spirit and the truth of our worship—through our hearts and our hands—then the Father has promised that we will reap in mercy in the Body of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I pray that out of his glorious riches [God the Father] may strengthen [us] with power through his Spirit in [our] inner being, so that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith. And I pray that [we], being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that [we] may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Ep 3:16-21; NIV).
HOSEA 10:12—Part Ten: My Heart In His Hands—His Heart Through Mine
by rev. dave c
Hosea 10:12, Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you (NKJV).
The Law of the Harvest teaches us that “We reap what we sow...and we sow what we reap.” We have spent quite a bit of time discussing what we should be sowing, where we should be sowing, how much we should be sowing, and why we should be sowing. We have talked about how God’s plan of abundance is centered upon our willingness to work and to give generously, and it is to be administered by His Church. Malachi 3:10 admonishes us to "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows (NAS). Concordantly, Second Corinthians 9:10&11 is God’s promise to the Church at Corinth, not to the individuals: Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed [the storehouse] and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You [the Church] will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God (NIV).
Part Eight of this series is an encouragement to do the right thing in giving of our finances, our talents, and our time—even if we don’t feel like it, and even if we have to begin with just a portion while praying for the Holy Spirit to soften our attitudes (“break me, Lord...and give me change”). This raises the question of whether our hands or our heart is more important to God. Although I maintain that to do the right thing for whatever reason is better than to do the wrong thing for any reason, the best answer to the question is, “Yes.” Our heart pushes us toward righteousness as our hands pull us forward, and all the while Jesus is working to change the former and strengthen the latter. Our hands and our heart are perfect complements—that is, they form a marriage of intent and action. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:8-10, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (NIV). Simply put, we are saved to do good works. Good works are the fruit and the evidence of repentant salvation (Ac 26:20).
Like all good things that God has designed for us, Satan has his ways and means to corrupt an individual’s desire to fulfill the tithe and to give generously. If the Deceiver can not stop the returning to the Lord of the harvest His portion of our material goods, then the Adversary works to turn our worship of God through generosity of spirit into a source of worship for his evilness through a spirit of arrogant superiority. By the time of Christ the tithe had become a fixed source of pride in religion for Israel’s leadership. In Matthew 23:23 Jesus intoned, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former (NIV). The Almighty is clearly telling us that both our attitudes and our actions are important. Materially complying with the letter of the law does not satisfy it, but neither does being “spiritual” in our minds and hearts without outward manifestations of committed obedience.
Matthew 23:23 tells us that the more important matters of the law are justice, mercy and faithfulness. Notice the similarity of this passage to Micah 6:8 [He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (NIV)], and to Zechariah 7:9 [This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another (NIV)]. All three of these verses list justice and mercy, and then variously speak of faithfulness, humility, and/or compassion. We are being told that Godliness must be an admixture of justice and mercy. Justice says that I am guilty of sowing high treason and that I deserve to reap eternal damnation. Mercy says that I have been granted a full pardon by the Governor of the Universe. This knowledge of God’s love must stir in me faithfulness as a commitment to obedience; humility of spirit before my Creator, Sustainer, and Lord; and compassion for my fellow man. If we sow for ourselves righteousness through the spirit and the truth of our worship—through our hearts and our hands—then the Father has promised that we will reap in mercy in the Body of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I pray that out of his glorious riches [God the Father] may strengthen [us] with power through his Spirit in [our] inner being, so that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith. And I pray that [we], being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that [we] may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Ep 3:16-21; NIV).