How’s Your Heart?- Letters from Home
By Douglas Wegner
Christian Community Church

An anonymous U.S. proverb says “Home is where the heart is.” What does your home look like? If the condition of our home is based on the condition of our heart, then the first question is valid. God’s word says in Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (AMP)  The similarity in these proverbs is that the overall condition of our hearts will be evident in the condition of our lives, or homes.

In our busy lives we don’t take much time to observe those people around us. If we stop for a minute and look around, we will see the resulting effects of these proverbs in those lives. God’s word cautions us with this: “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.        Hebrews 3:12  (NASU).

The key phrase above is, “that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart.”  As we consider the condition of our hearts, we want to assess the qualities of our thoughts, words and deeds to avoid “an evil, unbelieving heart”.

Every one of us comes to a point in our lives that will determine the eternal condition of our hearts. This time for me came in 1964 while I was attending a Billy Graham Crusade in Denver, Colorado.  While I don’t remember each word that he preached that evening, I do remember important points that identified the condition of my heart.  I remember clearly that I was not impacted by Billy Graham’s words, but I was impacted by God’s word. You see, Billy Graham didn’t know the condition of my heart but God did.

So what did God’s word say about my condition?  Romans 3:10; as it is written, "there is none righteous, not even one.” (NASU) and Romans 3:23; “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (NASU). These two verses showed me the condition of my heart caused by sin. Sin entered the world because man chose to disobey God’s command.  Once again, not my words, but God’s Word.  Romans 5:12 states,  “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (NASU).
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NASU). Man’s sin brought permanent separation from God. But God created me for a relationship with Him, so to bridge the gap caused by sin, He sent His Son into the world.

Jesus explained it Himself when He said in John 3:16-17; “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (NASU).  So in order for the gap of separation between me and God to be bridged, Jesus Christ took my death penalty upon Himself to restore my heart to God.

There was one more step to conquer the gap in my relationship with God. I had to cross the bridge by accepting the unmerited gift of Jesus Christ’s blood to bring me back to a right relationship with my Father. Romans 10:9-10 tells us, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (NASU).
These were the words that spoke to me that summer evening in 1964. The conclusions I arrived at were:
    1.     I had to admit the condition of my heart. Romans 3:10, 23 & 6:23; “there is none righteous” and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” and “the wages of sin is death.” (NASU).
    2.     I had to believe that Jesus Christ came to change the condition of my heart. Romans 6:23 & John 3:16,17; “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus” and “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” and “that the world might be saved through Him.” (NASU).
    3.     I had to confess my condition to God and accept His solution to resolve the separation permanently. Romans 10:9-10 says, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (NASU).
Since that evening 43 years ago my heart has been changed. I encourage anyone who has not experienced the healing relationship that is brought about by the grace of God through Jesus Christ to visit us at Christian Community Church next Sunday at 10:45 am.

Christian Community Church meets at the Falcon Ridge Hotel in Mesquite. Sunday school begins at 9:30 a.m. Worship Service at 10:45 a.m. Sunday Bible study at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday Bible study at 6:30 p.m. Call 346-2698

Pastor Douglas Wegner is Pastor of Lighthouse Mission Church, a mission outreach of Christian Community Church.   We meet every Sunday at Highland Manor, 272 Pioneer Blvd. Services are held Sunday at 10:45 a.m. in Hall 200.