Politics and worldly troubles - Where is our hope and trust?

I found an excellent blog (from what I've seen so far), and an excellent blog post on that blog that I wanted to share. The blog itself is called New Life Design, and it seems to be a very grace-based blog.

The specific blog post I wanted to share is called Perilous Times. It echoes a lot of what I've been thinking about lately. With the U.S. presidential election a little over 2 weeks away, and with the various economic conditions around the world - and with all other kinds of troubles and trials and negative circumstances in the world - many people are worried, sad, fearful, perplexed, distressed and depressed, along with many other negative thoughts, feelings and emotions. The Perilous Times post is a great encouragement to all that our hope and trust is in God, not man or circumstances.

It seems so very easy for some people to put a lot of stock in politics, politicians, political parties, the political system, etc. I mean, we say they're all liars and cheaters, but yet of course the ones we're voting for are the hope of all mankind! ;) So we form strong opinions, we hold rallies and man, oh man do we talk so bitterly about "the opponents." (Come on, is that really the life of Christ speaking through us?) And when it comes to worldly affairs, it seems so easy for us to live as if our very lives are dependent upon the circumstances of the world - when the circumstances of the world have been so very up and down and unstable ever since the Fall.

Don't get me wrong - What I'm not saying here is that "politics" are to be ignored. (But whatever your "politics," do let it all be an outflow of the life of the One who indwells you, and of faith, not sight, just as with the rest of your life). What I am saying is that in the midst of all this it's so easy to forget the One who truly does have the whole world in HIS hands. AS IF the fate of the United States and the rest of the world has ever really been in the hands of Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, G. Bush, Clinton, G.W. Bush (the presidents in office since my birth) or any other local or national leader in all of history - or yet to come. Sure... God has worked in and through them, as He has with all of mankind, but the world's fate has never been in their hands. Never.

Check out what Jesus said to Pontius Pilate when Pilate asked Him, "Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?" Jesus' answer was, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above." (In other words, "Sure, Pilate, you indeed have a lot of power. But AS IF my fate is in your hands. This is God's plan"). In the very same way, isn't it also true that the whole of history - all the leaders, all those 'powerful' decision makers - were and always will be in God's hands?

What do we have to worry about?

The Heart and The Scriptures

I have really been enjoying hearing what others have had to say about "the heart" lately. For example, understanding that in Christ we have been given a new heart. In the Old Testament, it was said that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." (Jer 17:9). But God's promise for the New Covenant was, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." We have a new heart that is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and that is not deceitful. Aida recently linked to a website that talks about the heart, and while I've yet to fully look it over I've at least found a few neat things on it. One thing is this post.

On that post, something very key stood out to me:

Contrary to popular culture’s view, the heart is not the emotional or feeling side of us. Popular culture tends to think of the heart as the sentimental part of us. (Think of Hallmark cards.) Biblically speaking, our feelings can express what is going on in our hearts, but the heart is much more than feelings.

I very much appreciate many of the teachings I've heard lately that talk about us being able to trust our hearts... because they're new hearts that are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. I think it's a good thing to understand this. However, I still think it's very possible (and sadly common) for Christians to mistake their feelings, emotions, logic, gut sense, etc, for the true heart. While our true heart (spirit) is fully in line with God, and can indeed express itself through our minds, feelings and emotions, at the same time our minds, feelings and emotions can express things that are not true... that are not of the Spirit... and I think it's very important to grow in our understanding of the difference. Otherwise, we may mistake anything we think or feel for truth, when really our minds, feelings and emotions can still deceive us and take us away from the truth.

This is why I'm thankful that we have the Scriptures. The sad thing is that I see many "heart" people getting defensive when the Bible is put on the table! To trust God with our new heart is a great and wonderful thing, but how do we even know about the old heart/new heart apart from what the Scriptures say? How do we know many, many wonderful truths apart from the Bible?

I'll be the first to say... because I've said it before... that most people who have ever lived have never had access to a Bible, and yet God's word has been true and has been revealed to mankind since the beginning. But here's the thing that I've seen, if only a little, in some of the "heart" teachings I've heard: A disregard for the truth that we do have in the Scriptures. Sometimes (although rarely) it's even been almost to the point of animosity against studying the Scriptures. And a little more often the teachings have, in my opinion, been contrary to what the Scriptures do reveal as New Covenant truth. I'll be honest and say all of this concerns me.

Truth be told, we don't all agree on the interpretation of all the Scriptures. That's not what I'm addressing here. I'm talking about people's feelings, logic, emotions, gut reactions, etc, that they regard as "truth" when the Scriptures reveal something to the contrary. Again, God does indeed reveal Himself to us in our spirits, often through the avenue of our minds, feelings and emotions. But also again, our thoughts, feelings and emotions can deceive us.

Here are a couple of examples.

1) A man comes to Jesus by faith alone, trusting solely in the truth of the gospel. Then his thoughts and feelings begin to make him wonder if the gospel is really that good, and if maybe God is angry with Him for falling short, and he begins struggling and striving to maintain his righteousness in an effort to stay right with God - all because his mind and emotions tell him something contrary to what the Scriptures really say.

2) A woman comes to Jesus by faith alone, and then becomes emotionally connected with a man who is not her husband. She begins having deep feelings for him, and in her "heart" she really feels that God wants her to be with this man, so she divorces her husband and marries the other man.

In both cases, the people really did believe something about God and about themselves that wasn't true. They believed their hearts were telling them something, but it wasn't really their new heart (spirit). It was their minds, feelings and emotions. They were truly deceived.

That's the point of all this. We can believe some really "good" stuff about who God is and who we are, or some really "legalistic" stuff about who God is and who we are - or anything inbetween - that may not really be the truth. The whole point here is that we can easily be led in our minds, thoughts and emotions by things that seem to be true, but yet the Scriptures tell us otherwise.

Some other examples include the ideas that hell is just a fictitious place, and that everybody is saved. I've heard people say, "how could a loving God put people in hell, never mind creating it?" (A recent comment by Matthew in another post reminded me of this). Or, "It's just not logical that God wouldn't save everyone." It's supposedly the new heart from which people have gotten these doctrines - but it's really their own thoughts, logic, emotions, feelings, etc. It doesn't line up with what the Scriptures say.

When helping Timothy to understand God and the gospel, Paul didn't tell Timothy, "just follow what your heart is telling you." He reminded him about the Scriptures, "which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." He told him, "All scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness..." The Scriptures he was referring to were, of course, the Old Testament. How wonderful that we now also have all of the New Testament to learn from as well! There is a TON of truth about who God is (and who we are) that we can be assured of through our studying of the Scriptures. Life is most certainly not about living by doctrines and theology. But if we're going to teach or share with each other things about who God is and who we are, and since we do have the Scriptures, which do indeed contain the truth about God and us, then let's not disregard the them as we learn to walk according to our hearts.