The cure for what ails the heart

Walking through this past week has taught me something, but let me set the stage first.  I missed this morning’s service (actually joined online) because I was sick.  I had also been exposed to COVID recently, but when I tested it came back negative.  I had symptoms (fever, aches, cough, fatigue head and chest congestion) and knew something was wrong, but not exactly what until  Monday when I tested and the positive line appeared immediately: COVID.  I went through Saturday and Sunday hoping that it was just a cold and I could shake it off.  But once I had a firm diagnosis, I called my doctor immediately for any help he could provide.  

Walking through this past week has also taught me that many times we wonder what is wrong with us; why we feel depressed, discouraged, defeated.  The symptoms are present but we don’t have the correct diagnosis.  We think it is more of this or less of that, a change here or a change there, when the foundational answer lies in our heart.  A heart that is separated or distant from God because what ails us is sin (anything that God says not to do and we do it or anything God says to do and we don’t do it).  For the person who has never surrendered to Christ, they need a proper diagnosis and a cry to the only “doctor” for the only “cure” possible: Jesus.  This cure is an all-in cure. I surrender all my life for all His cure; His life and righteousness that forgives and restores my relationship to God.  For the Christian, we can get caught up in something that distances us from the fellowship of God, from listening to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and discipline in living rightly before God.  (I Corinthians 11:28-32)  Again, the cure is a cry to God to forgive and restore the fellowship with Him, thus closing the distance.

Proper testing and diagnosis requires examination (for the record, someone needs to come up with a less painful way to do the COVID testing).  For sin, this is realizing a holy and perfect God gives us the law to show us our condition.  Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 contain the 10 Commandments given to the people of Israel through Moses.  Let’s just start there; are you trusting anything else besides God for your daily living and also your eternity?  Have you lied?  Used God’s name in any way that doesn’t bring honor and praise to Him?  Desire someone sexually other than your spouse?  Want, desire and craft ways to take something someone else has?  Ever stolen anything?  When we have, we create a gap, a need in our life that only God can satisfy.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Psalm 139:23

“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart says the Lord.”

Jeremiah 29:13

 

Pressing On,

Ron Tipton, Senior Pastor