There is a passage penned by Paul in the 1st chapter of Ephesians that I found intriguing. Paul is giving thanks for their faith and love and that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you…..” (Vs. 17-18)
The particular phrase that I find interesting is “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened.” In other words, having your mind open. For what reason? So that we “know what is the hope in which we were called.”
That engenders a question – how did it get there? Solomon, in Prov. 10: 8 says that the “wise in heart will receive commandments.” Then when we turn to Heb. 1:1-2 we read that, before this current dispensation, God gave man His commandments in “various” ways and through His “prophets.” But is now speaking to us “by His Son” and when we have our hearts “enlightened”(opened) we’ll receive Christ’s words. And then Col. 3:16 tells us that this is where those words “dwell richly.”
Then the next part of our equation is, if Christ’s words are allowed in, and they “dwell richly” they make us “just.” In that condition, our “hearts” become the source of the spreading of God’s commandments given by “His Son.” Back to Prov. 10, verse 21 says that “the lips of the just feed many.” IE, we’re able to pass on the teachings of Christ and when they encounter other “enlightened” or receptive hearts, the spreading continues on. That’s quite a system put in place by God, isn’t it? But, it only works if our “hearts” are first “enlightened”
Well, that gets us through the first part of my lesson today – the getting of “The Word” into our “hearts.” Now we need to look and talk about a serious problem that can, and sometimes arises. We get it into our “hearts” but then we can let it escape. Or maybe better said, we give it up. And how we do that is simply by letting sin in and taking its place.
In other words: We allow Satan’s words to crowd out God’s Words. That is a situation that we must always guard against. Satan didn’t want God’s commandments in our heart to begin with and will use every effort he can to get them out.
For the last portion of our lesson I’m going to tell you a small portion of a sermon delivered by the greatest (if you can refer to a preacher in that way) preacher I ever heard speak. I’s referring to Bro. Marshall Keeble. I was a 19 year old airman stationed in Mississippi when I had the pleasure of hearing him. He was in his 80’s at that time, but was still powerful in his delivery.
Anyway, here’s something that he once said that caused me to think about presenting this lesson for you to consider today. I love the illustration that he used here.
He said that he really liked some of the “new-fangled” inventions we have now. The one he liked especially well was the “puncture-proof” tire. He said, “If you are driving along with ordinary tires and a nail goes through one of them, “PSSSSS” and you lose all the air.”
“But, a puncture-proof tire is different. If a nail goes through, there is some stuff inside that runs through and stops up the hole and the air stays in.” He then made his point in using this illustration.
He said, “the heart of a Christian is like a puncture-proof tire. An ordinary heart may be filled with love, but when someone does something to puncture that heart, all the love runs out and hatred and hard feelings take its place.”
“But a puncture-proof heart is different. It is filled with the spirit of Christ and when someone, through their words or deeds, puncture that heart, immediately the heart is stopped up tight and the love stays in.”
He closed his little parable lesson with these words: “And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13:13) Wouldn’t it be grand if we all had puncture-proof hearts.”
And my closing thought is to add – may we all have “enlightened” and “puncture-proof” hearts.
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey