THE DIVIDED HEART

 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  (Matthew 6:21-22 NKJV)

he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:8 NKJV)

The closing paragraphs of Matthew 6 are full of instances of a divided heart. The Greek word for care means that which divides.

Some are divided by anxiety. The anxious soul cannot take a strong straight course; any more than a man can sleep who is wondering whether he has bolted the front door or wound up his watch. Some are divided by contrariness, a most difficult and complicated disposition of soul. We would like to be pleasant, helpful, agreeable, and amiable, but are conscious of cross currents that restrain and make us awkward and disagreeable, and we find ourselves torn be

tween two strong influences, the one to be Christ like and gracious, the other to be distant and selfish. Others are divided by fitful and passionate impulses. Happy are they who can hold them well in check. Even the Apostle Paul tells us that he was conscious of these two wills.  The better self which longed to do the will of God, and the lower, selfish, passionate self, which brought him into subjection. Augustine tells us that, though the prayers of Monica, his mother, greatly affected him, he was constantly swept back from his ideal by an outbreak of passion.

Bunyan also illustrates the same condition, saying that two selves were at war within him. The Devil came and said, "Sell Him!" But he resisted, even to blood, saying, "I won't!" But, as the Tempter continued urging, "Sell Him!" Bunyan finally yielded, and suffered an agony of remorse, as, on the one hand, he accepted Christ as his only hope, and on the other, was prepared to barter Him away.

A divided heart lacks the first element of strength, it is unstable. The men who leave their mark on the world are those who can say: "This one thing I do." But we need more than concentration, we need consecration. We must not only be united in ourselves, we must be united in God. Let us make the prayer of Psalm 86:11 our own: "O knit my heart unto Thee, that I may fear Thy name." Yield yourself to God that He may separate you from the world, and weave you into His own life.

PRAYER

Faithful Lord, grant to us, we pray, faithful hearts devoted to You, and to the service of all men for Your sake.  In Jesus’ name I ask it, AMEN.

God's Daily Promise

Promise #93:
I am a gracious God who is righteous and full of mercy.

Psalm 116:5 (WEB)
Yahweh is Gracious and righteous.
Yes, our God is merciful.