Heart at War
March 1, 2013
God created us to be social beings and placed within each of
us a need to be in relationship and community with one another. This is a truly
wonderful and blessed reality, but also one that is fraught with difficulty.
Sometimes relationships go bad.
The Psalmist laments the shattering of relationships in
Psalm 55. This beautiful lament recalls the
pain and sadness caused when a trusted and important friendship has been
betrayed. Trust has been shattered and where love and companionship once
thrived, now only bitterness and deceit remain. The reason for this bitter
betrayal of friendship is a heart at war.
Think for a moment of a vital and important relationship
that has turned into a source of anger, bitterness, betrayal, and mistrust.
Perhaps it is a shattered marriage. Perhaps it is a former friend. Perhaps it
is a parent, sibling, or child. Perhaps it is a past coworker, supervisor, or
employee from your job.
Regardless of the relationship, when it sours and becomes a
source of emotional distress, the consequences are horrific. Sadly, though, in
most cases they are also preventable and avoidable—but we have to choose to not
have hearts at war.
The book of
James
pinpoints the problem in the fourth chapter. When we set our hearts on having,
controlling, and possessing, these cravings within creates a catastrophic state
of war within the heart. With a heart at war, one’s life can never know God’s
peace. Without God’s peace, our most vital and meaningful relationships will be
strained and frequently shattered.
Perhaps one of the best examples of overcoming a heart at
war is the
Apostle
Paul.
Before his conversion, he lived with his heart at war. Known as
Saul, he was committed to controlling and dominating
the Jewish faith, eradicating the Christian remnant, and building his own
little empire of religious authority.
Saul was powerful,
influential, and passionate about his dynamic ability to manipulate people for
his narrow, judgmental, and controlling understanding of God. In spite of his
genuine belief that he was doing God’s work, the warring heart within
Saul was actually a heart against God and God’s love.
Acts 9
tells the story of his conversion. Yet, aside from the blinding light and
profound encounter he had with the risen
Christ,
what happened was a tremendous change of heart.
Christ
set
Saul’s heart at peace. No longer a
man at war in his inner-most being,
Christ also
renamed him and sent
Paul into the
world to become the Church’s greatest evangelist.
The book of Philippians vividly illustrates
Paul’s heart at peace. Written while
Paul was in prison,
Paul’s
unrelenting optimism, hope, and genuine contentment radiate the spiritual peace
he now knew from deep within.
Paul was
able to endure all things through
Christ who
strengthened him, but more specifically, through a heart that embodied
Christ’s peace.
There is so much peace that we deny ourselves simply because
we choose to remain at war within ourselves. People struggle to have meaningful
and fulfilling relationships because their hearts are at war. People lash out
and cause emotional or physical harm to others because their hearts are at war.
People become enraged in political and religious hatred because their hearts
are at war. People live lives of prejudice, hatred, mistrust, and bitterness because
hearts are at war.
Yet, in
Christ there is true
peace—a peace that passes all understanding and guards our hearts in
Jesus Christ. This is the peace we must truly seek.
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