Photo by AzizAcharkionUnsplash
In last week’s post, I touched on how an open heart embraces God’s word.
However, it isn’t as easy as saying, “I have an open heart;” it is more involved than that.
For most of humanity—Christ-following and unbelieving—it requires having a changed heart.
But how do you do that?
Here are a few things to consider.
I remember an old song we used to sing,
Change my heart oh God,
Make it ever true.
Change my heart oh God,
May I be like you.
You are the potter,
I am the clay.
Mold me and make me
After your way.
The song is a prayer, a cry for God to take control.
Your life will change once you realize your place in the grand scheme of things.
God’s foot (as it were) is on the potter’s wheel; you (a lump of clay) are spinning around as his skillful hands begin to mold and shape you for an eternal world.
When you understand that your 70+ years on planet Earth only prepare you for eternity, you realize you have no idea what to expect or what you want.
Embracing this Understanding helps your willingness to change your heart because the God who stands in the past, present, and future knows how to mold and prepare you for eternity.
A brief rabbit trail
There is a story about an early 20th-century revivalist, Reese Howell (his biography by Norman Grubb could be a good read) that fits how to have a changed heart.
One day, while praying, the Lord asked him if he would lay down everything and follow him (the Lord).
Reese’s response clearly defines how to have a changed heart.
He responded, “I am willing to be made willing.”
His honesty before the Lord enabled him to see miraculous things through intercessory prayer.
The Wisdom of Solomon, Israel’s king, tells us this:
Good friend, take to heart what I’m telling you; collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding.
That’s right – if you make Insight your priority, and won’t take no for an answer,
Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God.
And here’s why: God gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding.
He’s a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well, a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere.
He keeps his eye on all who live honestly, and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones.
Proverbs 2:1-8 The Message
- Tune your ears
Hearing is essential because it requires listening. You must listen if you want to change.
The question is, listen to what?
Solomon says wisdom, or wise counsel, comes from reading the Bible and listening to righteous people.
It also comes from listening to the (still-small voice of) God the Holy Spirit as he whispers into your heart.
- Set your heart
Setting your heart is the tricky part. It isn’t a device that you program to a particular setting and forget it.
Your heart encompasses your mind—always thinking—how you act/react to things and your emotions—which can change with the wind.
This is where discipline is necessary.
Sometimes, you do things void of emotions because you are looking for a specific outcome—in this case, a changed heart.
Sometimes, you need help along the way, so having a Christ-following community is essential.
- Make Insight your priority
Insight is the willingness to see beyond the moment. What you see may be out-of-focus, but as you fix your eyes on it, you realize the word of God is pulling you through.
As Solomon’s father (King) David (the Psalmist) said, “Yea, though I walk through [not camp out] the shadow of the valley of death, thou art with me.” Psalms 23:4, The King James Version
- Won’t take no for an answer
This is where Reese Howell’s, I am willing to be made willing is critical.
Sometimes, fallen human nature pulls at your heart to do things you no longer want to do.
Sometimes, determination is the key to resisting temptation. The beauty of this is that you do not have to rely on self-determination (because it will often fail) but on the determination of the Godhead and your Christ-following community.
In another place, Solomon says this,
For people who hate discipline and only get more stubborn, There’ll come a day when life tumbles in and they break, but by then it’ll be too late to help them.
Proverbs 29:1 The Message
A changed heart is a matter of discipline. While the willingness to change can be a meaningful emotion at the moment of encounter, discipline after the emotion is gone will keep you on track.
So, how do you have a changed heart?
You have a changed heart by embracing God one day at a time.
A close personal relationship with the Godhead provides you a living hope. It is a living anticipation full of expectation of something good happening.
A close personal relationship with the Godhead is a journey. I invite you to follow along. As I learn, I will pass it along so you, too, can learn. I hope that as you learn, you can pass it along so that I (and others) might learn.
You must be logged in to post a comment.