Habits of a Healthy Heart

[00:00:03] Welcome to the Pursuing Faith podcast, where we explore questions of faith, doubt, and life. I am your host, Dominic Done.

[00:00:20] Hey friends, so over the past couple years, we have had a ton of people reach out to us asking,

[00:00:28] Hey Dom, do you have a study guide to go along with your first book, When Faith Fails, Finding God in the Shadow of Doubt?

[00:00:36] And if you've read that book, you know it's about doubt and faith and deconstruction. How do we help people who are struggling with their faith?

[00:00:44] What does the Bible say about deconstruction? And it's been so amazing to me just hearing how this book has resonated with you,

[00:00:52] with churches, with small groups that are going through it. And I could not be more excited to share with you that as of today,

[00:01:00] we now have a study guide. And this guide was built from the ground up to walk you through each chapter,

[00:01:09] providing questions and insights that don't just scratch the surface, but they get at the heart of what faith and doubt actually are.

[00:01:18] There's space for you to journal your reflections, explore difficult questions, and hopefully find some fresh perspectives,

[00:01:25] whether you're diving in alone with friends or a group. And it's available right now in both printable and tablet-friendly formats,

[00:01:33] and you can use it however you want. And here's the best thing, it's totally free.

[00:01:37] So to get your copy, just head over to our website, pursuingfaith.org,

[00:01:42] and it's our gift to you to support you right now where you are in your journey of faith.

[00:01:49] God says,

[00:01:59] I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.

[00:02:09] And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. And I will remove from your heart of stone,

[00:02:21] and I will give you a heart of flesh. Now, I know that I'm probably dating myself here,

[00:02:30] but when I was a kid, I absolutely loved, maybe you've heard of it, Frog and Toad Together.

[00:02:36] Have you guys heard of that? Are there any fans of that in the house this morning?

[00:02:39] Okay, did any of you like as a kid love that? It was seriously one of my favorite things.

[00:02:43] I don't know if it was because I was from England, but I remember as a young lad in England,

[00:02:47] reading through those books and just resonating with the stories they were telling and the artwork and all of that.

[00:02:54] And there is this one story that I've always loved of Frog and Toad.

[00:02:59] They're sitting together eating cookies. You may remember this one.

[00:03:03] And they just, the cookies were so good that they could not stop.

[00:03:09] And they're like, we got to stop. We got to practice self-control here.

[00:03:12] What are we going to do? And Frog's like, well, let's put the cookies in a box.

[00:03:18] And they're like, okay, so they put the cookies in the box.

[00:03:20] And they're like, wait a minute, we could just open the box. The temptation is still there.

[00:03:24] So let's tie up the box with a string. Sure, let's do that.

[00:03:29] And then they're like, well, we could cut the string and open the box and the cookies are still there.

[00:03:34] I know, let's put the cookies on a shelf.

[00:03:36] And so they put the cookies on a shelf.

[00:03:37] They're like, well, we could just get the ladder again and open up the box and cut the string and eat the cookies.

[00:03:42] It's an ever-living temptation right in front of us.

[00:03:45] And finally, Frog's like, well, you know what?

[00:03:48] I'm just going to get rid of these cookies entirely.

[00:03:50] And he took the entire box, took it outside, opened it up, and he gave it to the birds.

[00:03:55] And they ate all the cookies within minutes.

[00:03:57] And then you have this amazing line.

[00:03:59] I'll just read it to you.

[00:04:01] It says, birds came from everywhere.

[00:04:03] They picked up all the cookies in their beaks and flew away.

[00:04:07] Now we have no more cookies to eat, said Toad sadly.

[00:04:11] Not even one.

[00:04:13] Yes, said Frog.

[00:04:14] But we have lots and lots of willpower.

[00:04:18] You may keep it all, Frog, said Toad.

[00:04:21] I'm going home to bake a cake.

[00:04:24] And I love this story.

[00:04:25] Because there are times in our life when we can resonate with that.

[00:04:31] And we know that something needs to change.

[00:04:35] But in order to change it, it has to be dealt with in more than just a superficial way.

[00:04:42] You can't just put it in a box.

[00:04:44] You can't just wrap it with a string or put it on a shelf somewhere.

[00:04:47] Because ultimately, the issue at stake here is an issue of the heart.

[00:04:54] And you see, that's what this series is really all about.

[00:04:57] Brian was here last week, did an amazing job.

[00:04:59] But it's about hitting the pause button and asking the question,

[00:05:03] How is the health of my heart?

[00:05:05] How am I doing internally?

[00:05:08] What kind of habits am I fostering to become the kind of person that God has called me to be?

[00:05:15] If you can write down fast, I'm going to share with you a ton of verses today.

[00:05:19] Or if you just want to take a picture of this with your phone.

[00:05:21] Here's some verses that I think further frame the conversation.

[00:05:24] In Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23, it says,

[00:05:28] Above everything else, guard your heart.

[00:05:31] For out of it spring the issues of life.

[00:05:35] Bless you.

[00:05:36] In Psalm 51 verse 10, David says,

[00:05:39] Lord, would you just create in me a clean heart?

[00:05:43] Renew a right spirit within me.

[00:05:46] In Colossians 3 verse 15, it says,

[00:05:49] Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart.

[00:05:53] By the way, baseball fans, you're going to love this.

[00:05:55] The word rule is where we get our English word for umpire.

[00:05:59] In other words, when Jesus is king over your heart,

[00:06:04] when his peace is guiding you,

[00:06:06] he's going to show you what's right, what's wrong, what's safe, what's out, right?

[00:06:11] As our heart is in sync with him, his spirit leads us day by day.

[00:06:17] In Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5, you guys know this.

[00:06:20] Just love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

[00:06:25] And here's a question that I want to unpack with you guys today.

[00:06:28] Because these are beautiful, compelling verses.

[00:06:31] But the question I have is how?

[00:06:34] How do we develop a healthy heart?

[00:06:38] How do we cultivate the kinds of habits so that our inner life is healthy?

[00:06:46] And again, last week, it was all about very practical steps that we can take

[00:06:51] in order to have habits of a healthy heart.

[00:06:54] But what I want to do with you guys today is kind of take a step back

[00:06:58] and I want to ask some meta questions.

[00:07:00] The question is, what does God say a healthy heart is?

[00:07:06] What does the Bible have to say about a healthy heart?

[00:07:09] What is his vision for our inner life?

[00:07:13] And I think this matters not only theologically and personally,

[00:07:18] but also when we understand the question why.

[00:07:21] It was Simon Sinek, the leadership guru, who said, start with why.

[00:07:25] When we understand why, it gives us the vision, it gives us the motivation

[00:07:31] to make whatever changes we have to make in our life

[00:07:34] in order that we can grow

[00:07:37] and have the kind of heart that God is calling us to have.

[00:07:40] It was Antion, who was a French poet.

[00:07:42] He said, if you want to build a ship, you don't herd people together

[00:07:47] to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work.

[00:07:51] But rather, the first thing you need to do is you teach them to long

[00:07:55] for the endless immensity of the sea.

[00:08:00] Start with why.

[00:08:01] It's vision.

[00:08:02] So let's cast a vision today of what God says a healthy heart is.

[00:08:09] And as we often do here at Bayside Santa Rosa, we start at the beginning.

[00:08:14] In the book of Genesis, I think it begins to cast for us this beautiful,

[00:08:19] compelling vision of what God says our heart should look like.

[00:08:23] So if you have your Bibles, the book of Genesis chapter one,

[00:08:26] again, jot it down.

[00:08:27] Let's think it through together.

[00:08:28] Genesis chapter one.

[00:08:29] If you're new to the Bible, it's to the left.

[00:08:31] It begins this way.

[00:08:32] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

[00:08:35] And the earth was formless and empty.

[00:08:38] And darkness was over the surface of the deep.

[00:08:40] And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

[00:08:44] And God said, let there be light.

[00:08:48] And there was light.

[00:08:49] And God saw that the light was good.

[00:08:54] In the beginning, God created all things.

[00:08:59] The mountains, the rivers, the sea, the sky.

[00:09:02] And he said, it is what?

[00:09:05] Good.

[00:09:05] He made the DMV and is still waiting for his appointment.

[00:09:08] But the rest of the world he created in six days.

[00:09:12] And then on the sixth day, he created Adam and Eve, male and female.

[00:09:17] Verse 28.

[00:09:18] It says, God blessed them.

[00:09:21] And he said to them, be fruitful and increase in number.

[00:09:26] Fill the earth and tame it.

[00:09:28] Now, there's so many different things we could talk about here.

[00:09:30] But just one word I'd love you to jot down.

[00:09:33] It's the word blessed.

[00:09:34] In the Hebrew language, the word blessed is barak.

[00:09:37] Let me hear you say barak.

[00:09:40] Barak, it actually in the ancient world means not only blessed,

[00:09:43] but it was used to describe someone who was kneeling.

[00:09:47] They're kneeling in the presence of a good king.

[00:09:51] And from that posture of humility, of being humble before that great king,

[00:09:57] they're receiving blessing and grace and favor that they then take out into the world.

[00:10:05] The result of being blessed, Genesis chapter one, is that you now want to give blessing to others.

[00:10:14] This is why, by the way, God gives Adam and Eve the very first commission of,

[00:10:18] I want you to steward the garden.

[00:10:19] I want you to care for the earth.

[00:10:21] I want you to tame the earth.

[00:10:23] I want you to cultivate this land that I have given you.

[00:10:27] And then, of course, you get to Genesis chapter two, verse seven.

[00:10:30] Next verse to jot down.

[00:10:32] God created them, and I love it.

[00:10:33] It says, man became a living being.

[00:10:38] That word living in the original language is the word flourishing.

[00:10:42] It was used in the ancient world to describe a plant that's blossoming with life and beauty and color

[00:10:49] or a bouquet of flowers.

[00:10:51] Or, you know, when you go to a wedding and it's just like the most beautiful scenic view.

[00:10:56] Just a couple weeks ago, I was in New Zealand.

[00:10:59] My sister Susie, some of you have met her.

[00:11:01] She was here last year.

[00:11:03] But Susie, she got married.

[00:11:05] And she called me up.

[00:11:07] She's like, hey, I'm getting married in three weeks.

[00:11:09] I'm like, what?

[00:11:10] She's like, can you come do the wedding?

[00:11:11] So I head over to New Zealand.

[00:11:13] If you've ever been there, one of the most epic, beautiful countries.

[00:11:17] And so Jurassic.

[00:11:18] Something I didn't know about New Zealand is that there's only been humans in New Zealand for 800 years.

[00:11:25] The first humans, they came over on canoes from Polynesia.

[00:11:29] So for many, many years, New Zealand's just been able to really develop its own unique ecological identity.

[00:11:37] And so when you walk through these places, and it's so like, it's so barren as well.

[00:11:43] There's more sheep than people there.

[00:11:44] There's tons of birds and wildlife.

[00:11:48] And it feels like you're in this Jurassic world.

[00:11:52] Gorgeous.

[00:11:52] Most beautiful country I've ever seen.

[00:11:54] If you've seen Lord of the Rings, North Island is the first movie.

[00:11:59] The South Island is the second movie.

[00:12:01] Incredible country.

[00:12:02] And I think of this word flourishing.

[00:12:05] When I think of a country like that.

[00:12:07] That's just teeming with life and color and beauty.

[00:12:11] And what God says in Genesis 1 is that his vision for your heart from day one, for Adam and Eve,

[00:12:19] is that our hearts will be alive.

[00:12:22] That they would be living the purpose that God intended.

[00:12:27] Like a blossoming tree.

[00:12:28] Because when we live in sync with God's purpose for our life,

[00:12:32] our heart comes alive to the fullest expression of the life he intended.

[00:12:37] So, from day one, Adam and Eve were created and given a reason to live.

[00:12:44] And that reason was to have healthy, flourishing hearts.

[00:12:48] Now, here's the thing that struck me this last week.

[00:12:50] As I'm preparing for this message, I'm like, oh my gosh.

[00:12:54] Habits of a healthy heart.

[00:12:55] What does God say about spiritual health?

[00:12:59] Inner health.

[00:13:00] And I'm going through scripture.

[00:13:02] And one of the things I discover is that this concept of really having heart health

[00:13:09] is found not only in Genesis or Proverbs or some of these verses that we looked at together.

[00:13:15] It's literally on every page.

[00:13:18] In fact, one Bible scholar, he discovered that the heart is talked about over a thousand times in scripture.

[00:13:27] Which means, on average, that every single chapter of the Bible deals with having a healthy heart.

[00:13:35] So, fasten your seatbelts.

[00:13:36] We're going to go through the whole book together.

[00:13:38] No, I'm kidding.

[00:13:38] What I decided to do is I want to summarize this concept of a healthy heart.

[00:13:43] God's vision for a healthy heart.

[00:13:45] And I want to share with you three Hebrew words.

[00:13:48] Now, just to warn you, a few minutes of this may feel like seminary.

[00:13:52] But this, again, is casting a vision of what God says inner health looks like.

[00:13:58] And these three Hebrew words, I think, are so compelling and really life-changing.

[00:14:03] Here's the first one.

[00:14:04] And many of you know this word.

[00:14:06] It's the word shalom.

[00:14:08] Let me hear you say shalom.

[00:14:10] If you've ever been to Israel, they greet each other by saying shalom.

[00:14:15] It's a greeting now, but it literally means peace or peace be upon you.

[00:14:20] It can be translated as harmony, health, vitality, joy, wholeness, and flourishing.

[00:14:28] It's found hundreds of times in scripture.

[00:14:32] And one of the important things to know about shalom is that it's not how we often interpret it.

[00:14:38] And definitely in the ancient world, I think of Aristotle, for example.

[00:14:43] He said we make war so that we could live at peace.

[00:14:47] His definition of peace was the absence of conflict.

[00:14:52] Subdue your enemies, then you'll have peace.

[00:14:55] But when the Bible talks about shalom or peace, it's not the absence of conflict.

[00:15:00] It's a life or state of victory.

[00:15:04] From the very beginning, humanity's job description was to be ambassadors of shalom into a broken world.

[00:15:14] God says live in the garden, cultivate the garden, make it a place of harmony and joy and health.

[00:15:21] And when you go to the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, what do you find?

[00:15:26] It's Eden, once again, replanted.

[00:15:29] So God makes Eden.

[00:15:31] We mess it up.

[00:15:32] Sin enters the world.

[00:15:33] And then you have kind of like a mattress, the saggy middle.

[00:15:36] And then you get to the end of the book and God recreates the Garden of Eden and makes it in a beautiful, flourishing way where it's not just peace for a garden or the world, but the entire created order.

[00:15:51] We see the tree of life and Jesus, the Prince of Peace, brings shalom, not just to a garden, but to the entire universe.

[00:16:01] Shalom, then, was God's purpose from the very beginning.

[00:16:06] Shalom is God's purpose at the very end.

[00:16:09] And shalom, then, is God's purpose.

[00:16:12] It's God's vision for our heart.

[00:16:14] So I'm wrestling with this.

[00:16:16] God, what is your vision for a healthy heart?

[00:16:18] Well, number one, it's that we would have hearts that are full of peace.

[00:16:26] That there would be a tranquility, a sense of presence, a sense of the presence of God in our life and through our life.

[00:16:36] Which brings us to this second word, ashray.

[00:16:39] Let me hear you say ashray.

[00:16:41] Ashray is a fascinating word.

[00:16:43] It's actually connected to one of the words we looked at in Genesis.

[00:16:46] It's found 44 times in the Old Testament, especially in the book of Psalms and Proverbs.

[00:16:51] And it means happy or blessed.

[00:16:54] It can also mean generous.

[00:16:57] And it's slightly different from that word barak.

[00:17:00] God blessed them and they became living or flourishing beings.

[00:17:05] Barak is a posture of receiving from God.

[00:17:09] Whereas ashray is a posture of giving to the world.

[00:17:15] It's generosity.

[00:17:17] In the book of Psalms chapter 1, David, I think, defines it well.

[00:17:21] He said,

[00:17:21] Blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord.

[00:17:26] That person is like a tree planted by streams of living water.

[00:17:31] Who yields its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither.

[00:17:36] And I love this line, whatever they do shall prosper.

[00:17:41] So last week, of course, was about generosity.

[00:17:43] And one of the key insights, I think, of generosity is that generosity is for the healing of others.

[00:17:52] Like a tree that is rooted by rivers.

[00:17:57] When our soul, when our heart is nourished by God and nourished by his word,

[00:18:03] the roots go down, our life begins to radiate health.

[00:18:08] And the fruit that our life produces, just like a tree, is for others.

[00:18:14] I was thinking about this yesterday.

[00:18:15] That when a pear tree produces pears or an apple tree produces apples,

[00:18:23] those trees don't have defense mechanisms whereby they say,

[00:18:27] These pears are for me.

[00:18:28] Don't touch them.

[00:18:29] These apples are for me.

[00:18:31] No, what does the tree do?

[00:18:32] It just freely gives its fruit back to the world.

[00:18:38] And really, that is what generosity looks like.

[00:18:41] That when we are planted in God and his word,

[00:18:45] when our hearts are healthy,

[00:18:48] the natural byproduct is, oh, generosity.

[00:18:52] It just happens like fruit happens with a tree.

[00:18:56] Your life becomes a channel of ashray to the world.

[00:19:01] Now, side note here.

[00:19:03] Those of you like to go deeper in scripture.

[00:19:05] When you go to the New Testament,

[00:19:08] Jesus used that Hebrew word ashray.

[00:19:11] In the New Testament, it's the Greek word markurios.

[00:19:14] And he uses it in, I think, what is the definitive definition

[00:19:18] of what a healthy heart is, the Sermon on the Mount.

[00:19:21] Remember that passage in Matthew chapter five

[00:19:24] where Jesus uses the word blessed?

[00:19:26] It's markurios.

[00:19:28] It's ashray.

[00:19:29] It's ashray.

[00:19:29] And Jesus says, blessed are the humble,

[00:19:33] the broken, the merciful,

[00:19:37] those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

[00:19:41] Blessed are the pure in heart.

[00:19:45] Blessed are the peacemakers.

[00:19:48] So here's the litmus test.

[00:19:50] Do you have a healthy heart?

[00:19:52] Well, right now, is there humility?

[00:19:55] Is there brokenness?

[00:19:57] Are you merciful to those who are in need?

[00:20:01] Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness?

[00:20:06] The fact that you're here today tells me yes.

[00:20:08] There's a hunger in you.

[00:20:10] There is a desire to know God, to know his word.

[00:20:13] Are you a peacemaker?

[00:20:15] I think this is a huge litmus test of whether your heart is healthy.

[00:20:19] Do you strive for peace?

[00:20:21] Or do you stir up problems?

[00:20:23] Do you try and make bad situations worse?

[00:20:26] Or is your heart, I just want to bring peace in the midst of conflict.

[00:20:31] I think all of these things are signposts towards whether our hearts are healthy

[00:20:37] or whether there's something toxic and malignant within it.

[00:20:41] So we have shalom.

[00:20:42] We have ashray.

[00:20:43] But there's one more Hebrew word.

[00:20:46] And it's the word tamim.

[00:20:48] Let me hear you say tamim.

[00:20:51] Tamim is a word found 200 times in the Old Testament.

[00:20:54] And here's its definition.

[00:20:56] Wholeness, integrity, and singleness.

[00:21:01] For example, Genesis chapter 20 verse 5.

[00:21:04] It uses tamim to describe someone that has a pure conscience.

[00:21:11] Deuteronomy chapter 18 says it's someone whose heart belongs to God.

[00:21:17] In Isaiah chapter 6, it's holiness.

[00:21:21] I think of Leviticus 19 verse 2 as well.

[00:21:23] It says,

[00:21:24] Be holy as I, the Lord, am holy.

[00:21:28] Did you know in scripture, the word holiness, we often think of it in a kind of legalistic sense.

[00:21:34] Like be more, do more, give more, eat more kale smoothies, whatever.

[00:21:40] Like this, you know, impossible standard to rise to in order to be accepted by God.

[00:21:46] But when the Bible talks about holiness, it's more talking about becoming who God says we already are.

[00:21:54] The word holiness is wholeness.

[00:21:59] When God says be holy, it's not so much a call to try harder.

[00:22:04] It's a call to surrender, to be devoted.

[00:22:08] That's why it's this word singleness of vision, right?

[00:22:11] Be submitted, be all in.

[00:22:13] We could put it this way, to be holy is to have a heart that is whole.

[00:22:20] So we have shalom, peace, harmony, flourishing.

[00:22:24] This is God's vision of a healthy heart.

[00:22:27] Ashrei, which is blessed, happy, generous.

[00:22:32] Tamim, which is wholeness and integrity and purity and surrender.

[00:22:38] You're being a peacemaker.

[00:22:39] This is how God defines it in his word.

[00:22:42] So I think this is a good opportunity for us to say, okay, with that as our vision of health, how are we doing?

[00:22:52] With God's definition of what our inner life should look like, what is our current state right now?

[00:23:01] Is there peace or is there conflict?

[00:23:06] Is there forgiveness and mercy or is there bitterness and resentment?

[00:23:13] Is there a sense of joy and generosity and flourishing?

[00:23:18] Or is there a sense of selfishness or greed?

[00:23:22] How is the health of your heart?

[00:23:26] And to be honest, you know, when I heard about this series, I'm like, oh my gosh, because we all have miles to go.

[00:23:32] Not you guys.

[00:23:34] I'm talking about the 11 a.m.

[00:23:35] Pray for them.

[00:23:36] Their hearts are deceitfully wicked.

[00:23:38] But we all have miles to go, right?

[00:23:40] And have you found that in this process of following Jesus, the more that he uncovers in our life,

[00:23:50] the more issues that we see.

[00:23:54] And it can kind of be like this sense of when we first follow after Jesus, we're like stoked.

[00:24:00] Oh man, things are going well and I'm forgiven and I'm on this path towards wholeness.

[00:24:05] And then 20 years down the road, you're like, I'm not even close to where I should be yet.

[00:24:11] Some of you know this, but a couple months ago, I picked up this 20-year-old used car up in Oregon.

[00:24:17] I was super stoked.

[00:24:18] I got it for dirt cheap.

[00:24:19] It had like 100,000 miles.

[00:24:21] I'm like, no problem.

[00:24:22] When someone actually warned me, they're like, you should always buy a Toyota or a Honda because

[00:24:25] if you get this kind of car, it's going to have issues.

[00:24:27] I'm like, no, this is going to be fun.

[00:24:29] I got this car and I drove it off the lot.

[00:24:31] This is, it feels like a Saturday night live skit or something.

[00:24:35] I drove it off the lot and immediately within about two minutes of the lot, the AC went out.

[00:24:42] So I'm like, okay, this is going to be a long trip because it was when all the wildfires were happening

[00:24:46] from Oregon all the way into California.

[00:24:48] And I have this 10-hour drive ahead of me and I had to try, it was 110.

[00:24:54] So I had to drive with the windows down with smoke just pouring in.

[00:24:57] So I call the mechanic here in this area and he's like, oh yeah, two weeks time we can do it.

[00:25:03] And I bring it in and he's like, oh, there's an issue here.

[00:25:06] We need a new compressor.

[00:25:07] So he set up another appointment and then two weeks later he's working on it.

[00:25:11] And then he's like, oh, it needs a new thermometer.

[00:25:13] And so he repairs that.

[00:25:15] And then I drive it away.

[00:25:16] This is a few weeks ago and another light comes on.

[00:25:20] So I bring it back in.

[00:25:21] He's like, oh, it needs a new engine.

[00:25:23] It's just like one thing after another, after another.

[00:25:26] I can't even drive it right now because the more that it, the more we discover, the more issues there are.

[00:25:33] Can any of you relate to that when it comes to the health of your heart?

[00:25:37] You're like, I thought I'd be so much further by now.

[00:25:40] I thought my health, my heart would be so much healthier by now.

[00:25:43] But I think this is all the process of being a follower of Jesus.

[00:25:48] God begins to renovate.

[00:25:50] He deals with an issue.

[00:25:52] And then, oh my gosh, there's pride there.

[00:25:55] He deals with the pride and that reveals jealousy.

[00:25:59] He goes deeper and that reveals unforgiveness or anger.

[00:26:04] He goes deeper.

[00:26:05] He goes deeper and we find issue after issue after issue.

[00:26:09] You see, none of us are finished products.

[00:26:12] We're more like limited additions in need of constant upgrades, right?

[00:26:16] We have miles to go.

[00:26:18] But here's the good news.

[00:26:20] When it comes to having a healthy heart, a day is coming when our hearts will fully be restored.

[00:26:25] In the book of 1 John, we read this.

[00:26:28] Dear friends, now we are children of God.

[00:26:31] I love this.

[00:26:31] We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him.

[00:26:36] For we shall see him as he is.

[00:26:41] A day is coming when our hearts will be healthy and reflect the image of Christ.

[00:26:48] A day is coming when our inner being will be whole and restored and fully sanctified.

[00:26:55] And this last week, this verse, once again, there's been a number of times in my life where it's just like wrecked me in all the best ways.

[00:27:03] But this last week especially, I'm like, oh my gosh, the implications of this verse are actually breathtaking.

[00:27:10] And I'll leave you with two thoughts.

[00:27:12] The first implication is this.

[00:27:14] God doesn't just see the work in progress in your life.

[00:27:19] He sees the finished masterpiece.

[00:27:23] We look at our life for like, oh my gosh, my heart is just wrestling.

[00:27:27] I'm hurting.

[00:27:28] I'm not where I should be.

[00:27:29] There's all these issues that God has uncovered.

[00:27:32] But the way that God sees us is through the lens of his son.

[00:27:37] And in Romans chapter 8, he says, you are justified.

[00:27:41] You are glorified.

[00:27:43] You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

[00:27:48] I think so many times the way we frame the whole conversation of spiritual habits is through the lens of we focus on the problem.

[00:27:58] Right?

[00:27:58] You're messed up.

[00:27:59] You need to change.

[00:28:01] Here's a bunch of rules or practical points.

[00:28:04] Good luck with that.

[00:28:05] And we focus on ourself and then we get discouraged by what we see.

[00:28:09] And I think we've got to reframe the conversation.

[00:28:12] And it's less about how we see ourselves and it's more about how he sees us and the way that our heart is covered by the blood of his son, Jesus Christ.

[00:28:23] It's why I had to start in Ezekiel chapter 36.

[00:28:26] God says, here's how I see you.

[00:28:29] You are clean.

[00:28:30] You are righteous.

[00:28:32] I'm putting a new spirit that's in you.

[00:28:35] I'm taking out your heart of stone.

[00:28:38] I'm giving you a heart that's soft, a heart of flesh.

[00:28:41] We should not begin these conversations from a place of exclusion, but rather a place of embrace.

[00:28:50] God sees the finished, sanctified you.

[00:28:55] And secondly, we need to be honest about the things in our heart that need to change.

[00:29:04] And of course, what that looks like is confession.

[00:29:07] It looks like repentance.

[00:29:09] It looks like being real before God and others.

[00:29:13] I came across a book a few years ago.

[00:29:15] Again, those of you who like to go deeper in this.

[00:29:17] It's by a guy named Parker Palmer.

[00:29:19] Some of you may have read it.

[00:29:21] It's called A Hidden Wholeness.

[00:29:24] Masterpiece of a book.

[00:29:25] And in it, he describes the process of really confronting those areas in our life that need to change.

[00:29:32] And he makes the argument.

[00:29:34] He says, you know, the reason why this is a challenge for us, this whole process of spiritual formation and developing habits and practices that are in line with God's heart.

[00:29:44] It's a challenge the older we get because what happens as we get older is we get more jaded.

[00:29:52] We start out as a kid.

[00:29:54] Like we come into the world and we're kind of open books.

[00:29:59] Like what you see is what you get when you're a kid.

[00:30:02] If a kid's upset, they let you know.

[00:30:04] If they're happy, they let you know.

[00:30:07] Right?

[00:30:07] There's no pretense.

[00:30:09] They're very, very honest.

[00:30:10] Right?

[00:30:11] But the problem is, Palmer argues, the older we get, and it could be because of peer pressure, social factors, trauma, things that happen in our family, dynamics socially.

[00:30:24] Later on, the job we take on, the role we take, expectations that people begin to put on you is that we start to put up walls in our heart, which makes our hearts unhealthy.

[00:30:38] We start to put up armor.

[00:30:40] And we do that, of course, because we want to protect ourself or maybe we want to fit in in a certain context or situation.

[00:30:48] Here's the issue, though.

[00:30:49] As time goes by, we start to forget who God says we are.

[00:30:55] And there can be a painful gap.

[00:30:57] I call it between our soul and our role.

[00:31:02] Between what's happening in our heart and the kinds of lives that we end up living, the decisions that we make.

[00:31:11] And what we'll often do, and I've done this many times in life, to compensate for that gap, we have to play at.

[00:31:17] Right?

[00:31:18] We have to pretend that everything's okay when we know that in our heart, we're not feeling healthy.

[00:31:25] In our heart, there's hurts or wounds or pain or unforgiveness or feelings of betrayal.

[00:31:32] You know, when we lived in Portland, there was always this drama in the news in Portland.

[00:31:37] But this one took the cake in 2020.

[00:31:40] 2020 was an interesting year in Portland.

[00:31:42] That's a whole other sermon.

[00:31:44] But there was this drama in the news because someone called the police.

[00:31:49] They're like, hey, and they were serious.

[00:31:52] It was an older lady who called.

[00:31:53] She's like, there's a large cat.

[00:31:57] I think it might be a cheetah in our neighborhood.

[00:32:02] And it doesn't appear.

[00:32:04] This is the best line ever.

[00:32:05] She said, it doesn't appear to be aggressive.

[00:32:08] But, you know, someone needs to come out here from animal control and capture this large cat.

[00:32:13] And so the police are freaking out.

[00:32:15] They're like, what do we do?

[00:32:16] They called the zoo.

[00:32:17] They're like, are you missing a large cat?

[00:32:20] And they're like, no, we're not.

[00:32:21] And so finally they dispatched the police to the area.

[00:32:24] And they went to where the siding was.

[00:32:27] And the policeman, he snuck up on this large cat.

[00:32:32] And this is what he saw.

[00:32:34] Let me show you the picture.

[00:32:40] This is too amazing.

[00:32:42] I mean, only in Portland would you.

[00:32:43] If you ever fly to Portland, there's a big sign that says, make Portland weird.

[00:32:48] It's like the perfect sign for that city.

[00:32:52] So this is what they saw.

[00:32:54] The whole thing was a ruse, which explains to me why cheetahs don't ever play hide and seek because they're afraid they'll be spotted.

[00:33:01] Right.

[00:33:01] Which is a horrible cheetah joke.

[00:33:04] So bad.

[00:33:05] I know you guys miss these jokes.

[00:33:08] But how many times in life, like instead of living out of our true self, our true identity, who God says, you guys can take down the picture.

[00:33:17] We start projecting on others and the world a vision of our false self.

[00:33:24] And what happens in that kind of context is discouragement, disillusionment, weariness.

[00:33:32] Parker Palmer, he says, I yearn to be whole, but dividedness often seems the easier choice.

[00:33:41] I pay a steep price when I live a divided life, feeling fraudulent, anxious about being found out, depressed by the fact that I'm denying my own selfhood.

[00:33:53] The people around me pay a price as well, for now they walk on ground made unstable by my dividedness.

[00:34:01] And then he says this, a fault line runs down the middle of my life.

[00:34:06] And whenever it cracks open, divorcing my words and actions from the truth I hold within things around me get shaky and start to fall apart.

[00:34:17] The lifelong challenge of having a healthy heart is learning to identify in your life what those fault lines are.

[00:34:28] I like to call it living without walls, where there's this deep synergy between who God made you and the life that you're living.

[00:34:41] Who God says you are and the decisions that you're making.

[00:34:48] And that begins with honesty.

[00:34:50] I think there are times in life where we have to say, hey, if I'm going to make changes,

[00:34:55] we actually have to acknowledge, you know what, this situation or this path I'm on or this choice I made isn't healthy.

[00:35:03] It has to be changed.

[00:35:05] Or this thing that you're wrestling with, you own it.

[00:35:08] You surrender it to God.

[00:35:10] It might mean a change of vocation.

[00:35:14] Where you're like, okay, this situation I'm in isn't healthy for my heart.

[00:35:20] And sure, people around you might get disappointed.

[00:35:22] But God's desire for you ultimately is not that you would try and fulfill someone else's dream for your life,

[00:35:31] but that you be true to his dream for you.

[00:35:35] It might mean letting go of something toxic.

[00:35:38] You're like, man, this sin, this addiction needs to go.

[00:35:41] This one hurts actually.

[00:35:42] This could be a whole other series.

[00:35:43] It might mean a change of friends.

[00:35:45] Maybe you're with people right now who, in your life, they're dragging you down.

[00:35:52] They're hurting you.

[00:35:53] They're wounding you.

[00:35:55] They're gossiping about you.

[00:35:56] They're not lifting your heart up.

[00:36:00] You might need a change of friendship so that your heart can flourish.

[00:36:07] Listen, whatever it is, whatever changes you need to make,

[00:36:15] putting it on a shelf isn't enough.

[00:36:17] Tying it with a rope isn't enough.

[00:36:20] You actually sometimes need to take the box outside and clean house.

[00:36:25] And whatever it is for you, in your heart, it's worth it.

[00:36:30] Because the greatest gift that you could give yourself and your family,

[00:36:37] your wife, your husband, your son, your daughter, your roommate, this church, this city,

[00:36:45] the greatest gift you can give to another is having a healthy heart.

[00:36:53] Ashrei.

[00:36:55] Shalom.

[00:36:57] Tamim.

[00:36:57] We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Pursuing Faith podcast.

[00:37:08] If this ministry has encouraged you in some way,

[00:37:11] would you consider leaving a review on iTunes or your favorite podcasting platform?

[00:37:16] That would help a ton in getting the word out.

[00:37:20] Also, if you want to partner with us or see what we're up to,

[00:37:23] check out our website, pursuingfaith.org.

[00:37:28] Thank you.