SATURDAY- 18TH MAY, 2024
MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - Olusola ADEJUMO
RESPECT ISSUES OF THE HEART
Acts 1:23-24, KJV
"23 And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen."
God wants you to respect issues of the heart. Your estimation should not be on the appearances of men firstly but the heart and its state. In today's reading, the Apostles are seen doing same. When it comes to choosing a replacement for Judas Iscariot, they specifically prayed that God who knows best the hearts of men would choose for them out of their provided two candidates. Yet, those two candidates are disciples. Christians, good Christians we might call them nowadays but still needed to be discerned.
Whenever you're faced with the choice of who to go with in marriage, business or any sort of relationship; let the issues of the heart choose for you such that'll be on your team. I'll rather have a fellow who can't injure me next to me than have someone who appears charismatic and beautiful by my side. The Apostles have come to know one thing - a man is basically defined by his heart or what comes from there. As such, a man is his heart! That's why the Bible says, "as a man thinks, so is he" (Prov.23:7). What makes a tree good is the sort of fruit it produces: good or bad. And what sort of fruit produced comes from the inside of any man. That's why it is what comes from the inside of a man that as well defiles him (Matt.15:11). That's why Jesus was very much against hypocrisy, rebuking the Pharisees and other elders. He'd told them they loved to wash the outside of the cup and not keep the inside clean. He also compares their hypocrisy to a white painted grave which appears beautifully outside but which is full of rottenness inside. As such, Jesus esteems matters or issues of the heart over appearance. Appearance is easily forged and pushed! Anyone can fake appearance like the Gibeonites do but their motivation for doing such is what could be traced and rightly discerned to mark their genuinety or falsity (Joshua 9:3-14).
The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9 "the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it." You may not regard this verse as very truthful until you're injured by someone you regard as your neighbour. Some have been duped and jilted and so know that the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked. They are so much conscious now that they're reluctant making choices of who to marry again. In business and other life's ventures, others have been betrayed also. Such disappointments have concretized this truth of man's heart being deceitful above all things. As such, it calls us to the need to weigh hearts before choosing one. Man may pretend to be B but in reality is A. If you have no discernment, you might fall for the front he is selling and eventually suffer for it.
It is this knowledge of the heart being right that made the Apostles pray that God should choose for them a candidate whose heart is right. They might have also learnt from the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. Heart is everything even in choosing leaders politically. If you vote selfish individuals, you'll reap the brunt of their selfishness. However, let me quickly say "heart" as referred to here isn't that blood pumping organ. No! It rather refers to the motivation, thoughts, outlook or perspective, objective, desire, believe, attitude of individuals. Those are the things that would influence and dictate the actions and reactions of anyone. Someone may be very handsome but if he believes saying sorry diminishes him when he offends another, I'll say that's a bad heart you're seeing right there. His believe is wrong and so his heart would act wrongly. It is God's desire that our hearts would be right always. When Simon the sorcerer got converted but offered money to Peter in order to have the Holy Ghost, what Peter rebuked is his heart not being right because he thought of buying the gift of God with money.
Acts 8:21, KJV
"Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God."
As such, you know the heart in question is not the physical organ doctor deals with. Ensure that your heart is right always and ensure you make choices of people based on their hearts. Stop falling for people because of their fine appearances and how they solely paint themselves, you'd die by tomorrow doing so. How would you know people's hearts? A man is identified by his fruit. Do we gather grapes from thistles (Matt. 7:16)? However, let discernment be at work at all times to help you unravel man's deception.
PRAYER: Lord, search me and see if there be any wicked way in me. Show me those around me who could hurt me.
BIBLE IN A YEAR: 1 Samuel 20:1-21:15, John 9:1-41, Psalm 113:1-114:8, Proverbs 15:15-17
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