A Heart Work

   

 Recently, I completed a stress test with my cardiologist as I was having some shortness of breath which she thought required some attention.  She followed up with a nuclear PET scan which is a test of endurance for laying completely still with your arms above your head for 20 minutes while they take pictures of your heart.  Following the tests some days later, I met with my doctor and she felt I needed a heart catheterisation to look at an area of abnormality.  I had previously had one a number of years ago that had shown nothing of any consequence.  However, I am always leery of tests, so I wasn't terribly excited about another one.  Nevertheless, I trust my doctor and agreed to have this done.
     This past Wednesday, I underwent the procedure knowing that if they found something they could correct with a stent or angioplasty that they would do it at the same time.  In short, they did find a significant blockage which they were able to correct with a stent.  After an overnight stay in the hospital, I came home yesterday to begin a new way of living with a better diet and a gratefulness that they were able to repair an artery before trouble came my way.  As I recuperate,  I couldn't help but reflect on the heart surgery that the Lord had performed on my heart over 43 years ago, but in a different way and not a temporary fix.  In fact, the Lord gives to all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ a new heart.
     From Old to New Testament, God makes clear His plan for salvation and what it means to us.  In Ezekiel 36:26-27, God instructs the prophet to speak these words to the Children of Israel who had once again fallen from His ways:  "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."  Note:  God does all the work here from start to finish.  While He speaks here of Israel's restoration, this is a foreshadow of God's plan for those who are called by His name as we see fulfilled through Jesus Christ.  My MacArthur Study Bible's footnote on these verses reads:  "The gift of the 'new heart' signifies the new birth, which is regeneration by the Holy Spirit.  The 'heart' stands for the whole nature.  The 'spirit' indicates the governing power of the mind, which directs thought and conduct.  A 'heart of stone' is stubborn and self-willed.  A 'heart of flesh' is pliable and responsive.  The evil inclination is removed and a new nature replaces it."  This is the best heart transplant procedure ever done, and only God can do it for us.  There is no concern that we can ever lose it either.
     In the New Testament, we read these words of the Apostle Paul who testifies to our new life in Christ:  "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).  Once again, both Old and New Testament bear witness to the change in us.  We are new creations...not just repaired creations.  God has given to us a new set of values, life, and outlook.  He has forgiven our sin through the blood of Jesus Christ, and now we can live for Him.  Yes, evil and sin are still present, but we are free to obey God and to see life from a new perspective no longer bound in sin and death.  This newness of life is a continuous work of God's Holy Spirit which He gives to us to guide and direct our steps.  We no longer live for temporal things but with a view of eternity before us.  What glorious surgery the Lord does on us!
     On April 27, 1970, God did surgery on my heart and my husband's heart the same evening.  We confessed our sins and received from God's hands hearts of flesh.  We became new creations in Christ and have enjoyed fellowship with Him these many years.  How grateful we have been for His complete provision for us.  He has not only given us new life but also has given us the gift of eternal life with Him.
     While I am very thankful for my physical heart repair, I rejoice even more in my spiritual heart transplant which God has done in my life.  My eternal destination is secure in Christ who is able to keep me safe in His arms.  Has God done spiritual surgery on your heart?  If not, ask The Great Physician to give you a heart of flesh even today.  He will be faithful to answer your prayer.  Selah!


I welcome your testimony on how God has worked in your heart.  It is a blessing and encouragement to others.


Many thanks to all who prayed for me during my recent procedure and hospital stay.

Do All Dogs Go to Heaven?

     In 1989, Don Bluth created a movie entitled "All Dogs Go to Heaven".  This is a story of a rather shady dog named Charlie and his dachshund buddy Itchy.  Unfortunately, Charlie is murdered by an associate of Itchy's named Carface.  Despite his bad deeds, Charlie goes to heaven where he steals his life watch back and returns again to earth.  Unknown to him, when the life watch runs down again, he will be cast into Hell since he gave up his status in heaven.

   

Our old basset hound Roscoe and our granddog Beau

 Charlie meets an orphan girl whom he befriends to use her ability to talk to animals and thus win money for races they are in.  He does not really care what happens to her until the end of the story where she nearly drowns.  He sacrifices his own life to save her but loses his life watch.  However, an angel comes and takes him to heaven once more since he helped the little girl.  Carface, the villain, also goes to heaven when he dies despite his unrepentant life of dirty tricks.  Hence, the name of the movie, "All Dogs Go to Heaven".  In reality though, according to the Christian faith, not all go to heaven and none can return to have a second chance.

     Scripture teaches us in Hebrews 9:27:  ".....it is appointed for man to die once, and after this comes judgment..."  There is no mention in God's Word  telling us that we can return to earth for any do-overs.  Furthermore, we are told clearly that the only door into the sheepfold of heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ.  Unless we are found in Him through faith, we cannot enter heaven.

     In the letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul makes it very clear that we are all sinners and under condemnation before the Lord.  Romans 3:23 says:  "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  However, the remedy to this fatal sin nature is life in Jesus Christ.  Romans 6:23 tells us, "For the wages of sin are death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  This is how we can enter eternal life in heaven by repenting of our sins and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation.

     Unlike Charlie, in the movie, we do not get into heaven because we have done any good deeds which makes us worthy recipients of eternal life.  The Apostle Paul made that clear in his letter to the believers at Ephesus when he writes:  "For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).  God grants us not only His grace but also the faith with which to believe.  In verses 4 and 5 of this same letter, Paul tells us:  "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ..."   

      From start to finish then, it is God who awakens us from the death of our sin nature, and gives to us the faith to believe in the salvation bought for us through the sacrifice of His Son for our sins.  This is Good News!  Will all believe?  No, and certainly those who are unrepentant will die in their sins.  For them, there will be justice which awaits.  This place reserved for those who reject God is called Hell.  Jesus mentioned Hell or a place of eternal torment nearly 46 times in His ministry.

     Hell was meant for the devil and his angels, but all who reject the message of salvation in Jesus Christ will join them in this place of separation from God.  It is a place of judgment, wrath, fire, torment, weeping, gnashing of teeth where there is no comfort day or night.  Quite often, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus alludes to this place as He teaches the kingdom principles of living:

Matthew 5:22, 29-30; Matthew 7:19, Matthew 8:12 and 10:28.  Mark 9:43-48 also paints a bleak picture of the eternal punishment awaiting those who do not believe.

     Jesus warned us and told us plainly about Hell, but today, there are many who do not choose to preach on this subject.  It is a real place, and one that we should not want anyone to enter.  Therefore, we have a ministry to friends, neighbors, family to tell them about Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished for us.  While God is love, He is also a God of judgment, wrath and justice who will punish those who are unrepentant.  To some God grants mercy, but to others, God brings justice.  This is why it is so important that we tell others the Good News.

     Unlike Rob Bell in his book "Love Wins", I do not believe that all will be saved in the end.  All dogs do not go to heaven, but all need to hear the message of salvation that some might come to Him.  Those who are God's chosen will respond when He calls.  Our job is not to judge others, but to present the truth of God's only means of salvation - Jesus Christ.  There is no other way to heaven (John 14:6).  Let us be faithful so that no one misses the opportunity to enter eternal rest in heaven when they die.  Then, let us pray and leave the results to God.  Selah!

     

Nothing New Under the Sun

   
Solomon, the presumed writer of Ecclesiastes, coined the phrase "nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9), and indeed, he is right.  Ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, man has tried everything under the sun to do things HIS way and found as Solomon did that "all is vanity and a striving after the wind" (Eccles. 2:17).  Whenever we leave God out of the equation, we come to the same conclusion.  However, it was not always that way.

A crown at "The Residence" in Munich, Germany

     King Solomon was David's son with Bathsheba.  When he came to the throne, the kingdom had been well established by his warrior king father David.  Solomon began well as we read in I Kings 3:4:  "Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places."  His love for God was right, however, Solomon offered sacrifices on pagan altars and continued to do this even after he had built the Temple.  This was a sign of problems ahead as using pagan altars was forbidden in Israel.  Nevertheless, at the beginning of his reign, after offering many sacrifices to the Lord, God appeared to him in a dream by night and asked what He should give to the king.  Solomon asked only for wisdom by which to guide the people: "Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? " (I Kings 3:9).
     God was pleased with Solomon's request and not only gave him great wisdom but also riches and honor even though he had not asked for that.  Yet, the Lord did make one prerequisite:  "And if you will walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days" (I Kings 3:14).  It was a wonderful beginning, but Solomon squandered the grace and mercy of the Lord.
     Over his life, Solomon, indeed showed much wisdom in his judgments which became famous throughout the known world of his day.  He gained tremendous wealth, and took for himself seven hundred wives and 300 concubines.  Unfortunately, like many of us, he lost his way to the world.  His wives and concubines brought in foreign gods and worship, and Solomon participated with them even after he built a great temple to the one true God.  Because of his unfaithfulness, the kingdom which the Lord helped him build was to be torn from his descendants.  Only one tribe would remain under his descendants rulership.
     Thus, we come to Ecclesiastes a message written from an older king who is now reflecting on his life and sharing with us the message that life is all vanity without the revealed wisdom of God guiding us daily.  Solomon asked for wisdom and God anointed him with great wisdom.  However, when Solomon struck out on his own and used only empirical evidence around him instead of God's wisdom, he found emptiness and vanity.  Ecclesiastes 1:17 reads:  "And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly.  I perceived that this also is but a striving after the wind."  The footnote to this verse in The MacArthur Study Bible says this:  "When Solomon depended on empirical research rather than divine revelation to understand life, he found it to be an empty experience."  Isn't this what we see today?  So many scientists try hard to explain the universe and its creation without a Creator.  They base their findings on empirical data without considering divine revelation.  "We cannot have God in the mix", they would claim.  As Solomon wisely noted, it is "a striving after the wind."
     Then, Solomon tried all the pleasures he could possibly enjoy as a result of his wealth and many women.  He never denied himself anything.  Again, in all of this exercise of lust for the things of this world, the king did not find the satisfaction he sought.  Apart from God, life is indeed vanity of vanities.  It is meaningless without the truth of God and His Word to us.

His Word is Truth!

     When we know the Lord, as Solomon did, and decide to walk away for our own pleasures, we will find nothing but emptiness in life.  Because Solomon did look back on the wreckage of his own life and repent, he was able to write under the guidance of God's Holy Spirit this book of the Bible for our benefit and instruction.  Here was a man who had it all:  wealth, women, fancy chariots, a palace, lots of servants, and great wisdom.  Was he happy?  No, not without God in his life.  That is why he could say there is "nothing new under the sun."
     Life without Jesus Christ as our confessed Savior and Lord is every bit as empty as Solomon's  while he was engaged in sin.  There is nothing new about this.  It started in the Garden.  As Romans 3:23 tells us:  "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..."  We inherited the sin nature of Adam and are dead in our trespasses.  However, by God's regenerating power, we are awakened from this death and have the privilege of repenting and coming to Jesus Christ.   I will wager that a poor man who gives his life to Christ is far richer and wiser than Solomon when he strayed from the Lord.
     All the knowledge in this world, all the riches there are to offer cannot make us whole, secure or happy.  Joy comes from knowing, serving and living for Christ.  Even Solomon concludes his book of Ecclesiastes with these wise words:  "The end of the matter; all has been heard.  Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil."   Life has meaning when it is lived for God.  Selah!