Faith, the Soil of the Heart, and Larry Flynt, et al.
Posted: Saturday, April 11, 2009
by Jean Purcell
OpineBooks.com
There is a man who has shown commitment to self-enrichment through pornography for many years.
His name came to mind twice during this week of holy days noting the time of the suffering, death, and resurrection of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The pornographer has many fellows who are overcome by the same attending sins. These men and women suffer blindness regarding the things of the Spirit of God.
We do not know the inner workings of the man's experience or intentions. But his heart returned to obstructions. Yet, the hope was that this pornographer would be converted, turned around, in a divine way.
Repentance can still enter that man's heart. By the power of Almighty God, the soil of the most self-righteous, blind, deaf, or rebellious heart can be changed. In this matter, I cannot help thinking about misconceptions about "religion" and "faith" that hinder many people who seem, for a time, to seek God.
Many are hurt, turned off, or become twisted by "religion." Sometimes it starts early, in a legalistic or judgmental home, or a home with hypocrisy. Or, a self-reliant, godless home.
Jesus speaks of all possible combinations that can obstruct the heart. He teaches about the wayside soil, the unstable soil, the soil that seems ready but eventually lets go. None of these types of soil hold onto the seed of the Word of God.
When His disciples asked Jesus about the parable of the sower, the soil, and the seed, He said that the seed is the Word of God and the soil is the human heart. He taught that when oppositions, distractions, torments, or pleasures come in, the heart often lets go of the Word, and stops bearing fruit (Mark 4). Jesus taught that "the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in..." (Mark 4: 18) "choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful."
Jesus said that real fruitfulness occurs in the heart that is "good ground, those who hear the word, receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some a hundred" (verse 20).
Were we once deceived, thinking religion was identical with a living faith in God through His Son? Did we once judge others, when the Lord said that even He did not come to judge the world? Have we ever let the opinions of others or the risk of disapproval hinder our openness or faithfulness to the Word of God?
As Christ hung on a cruel cross of rough wood, those below Him spat ridicule and blasphemies at Him. Jesus, the Christ, bore their sins there, and the world's. He came to earth, we remember, to rescue souls from the grip of sin and the path of hell.
Jesus, in perfect holiness, turned the rugged cross into the glorified Cross. Only the mighty power of God could do such a thing. As He hung there suffering, He made the place of shame a pulpit. From the place of The Skull, He assured Paradise to a thief. From a place of relentless, worldly judgment, the One without sin prayed for His persecutors: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Before the Darkness of "Too Late" falls upon those of the world,* Christians need an urgency to pray as our Lord taught His disciples to pray: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
Jesus is alive! Therefore, every believer in the Lord should pray continually for all who remain blind and deaf to the Spirit of God. These prayers cannot include only pornographers and others like them. These prayers must include anyone who loses his or her way in any pit of sin: the irresponsible parent, the child going astray in rebellion, the hypocrite speaking of honesty in the open while readjusting the books in secret, the one who bears false witness against others, those who neglect their own extended family, those who covet, and others.
On and on we could go. Some are leaders of churches, businesses, and politics who try to live double lives. Some are simple, some sophisticated; some are poor, some rich or in between; some are non-believers who do all of the above, and more, in different ways.
It has been said, "The ground is level at the foot of the Cross" and it is written, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23-emphasis added). Christ died once, for all. **
We who love the Lord should re-examine our minds, hearts, consciences, and actions in His presence. Let us be careful to humble ourselves before God. We need to seek renewed cleansing of our hearts daily. We need to talk and listen to God, daily. Let us not quarrel with any pruning that, in His mercy, God does with us, so that we may be more fruitful for His kingdom, our eternal home.
To grow fruitfully, the seed must implant firmly and grow healthily in the heart purged of the poison of sin. Disobedience led Eve and then Adam to accept the lie of the serpent, by which humankind received the serpent's death-giving bite. No good can grow in a heart of lies.
I close, dear reader, with what CH Spurgeon eloquently wrote about the Lord's death for us sinners, the world infected by the serpent's bite that poisons every unattended, disobedient, or unknowing heart:
Jesus died as a real
Saviour for real sinners.
Whether the bite has made you
A drunkard,
Or a thief,
An unchaste
Or a profane person,
A look at the Great Saviour
Will heal you
Of these diseases, and
Make you live in holiness
And communion with God.
Look
And live.
Amen. Christ is risen indeed! He sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.
Note: The Spurgeon quote is from Faith's Checkbook, April 9 reading.
* of the world, for example, in the words of Jesus:
"but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." -John 15:19-italics added
" I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." -John 17:14
** One died for all: "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit." -1 Peter 3:18-New American Standard Bible-emphasis added
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Dear Jane,
Amen! What a glorious message for us especially during this holy week. "Jesus, in perfect holiness, turned the rugged cross into the glorified Cross." Aren't we blessed by His saving grace and power? Rugged cross (sinner) into a glorified Cross (saint). You've written from the heart of God a message that includes sinner and saint, alike.
May God continue to inspire you with words of Truth to share with us. I'm humbled and encouraged to seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, the more. A Happy Easter to you and your family.
He Lives in me,
Avis
Dear Avis, a blessed, joyous Easter Day to you! What a Savior we have and to think He shares Himself continually with us! With you, I worship and adore Him! His Name is Glorious! Dear Avis, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Your encouragement is so much appreciated and I value your reactions. May we write carefully toward God and boldly toward others.
Saved and Kept by His grace,
Jane
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