Tag Archives: Test of Love

Heart or Mind or Both

Ordinary Time

Heart vs Mind

February 7, 2022

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-10

Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
   and make mere flesh their strength,
   whose hearts turn away from the Lord.
They shall be like a shrub in the desert,
   and shall not see when relief comes.
They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
   in an uninhabited salt land.

The heart is devious above all else;
   it is perverse—
   who can understand it?
I the Lord test the mind
   and search the heart,
to give to all according to their ways,
   according to the fruit of their doings. –Jeremiah 17:5-6, 9-10

We need to remember that the authors of the Bible did not share the same knowledge base about human bodies that we understand today. For us, the heart is a pump that sends blood flowing through the body. in ancient times it was the word that represented the inner man, mind, will, with specific reference to moral character* We do continue some of that meaning when we celebrate Valentine’s Day with “heart” shaped cards that are not shaped like the heart at all. The Hebrew word translated mind here is the word for kidney. I have no idea how to consider that.

The question being considered is: are we ruled by our feelings or by facts? And the answer is both. Jeremiah quotes the Lord as saying that the Lord tests the mind and searches the heart and that is wise advice for us particularly in our world today. I find myself checking sources I trust when I read a statement of fact that does not seem reliable. At the least, I have found the information to be misleading or taken out of context. And sometimes it is just not true. Other language is loaded with wording designed to steer us away from facts and see from an emotional level. In these instances, we must indeed search our hearts to see if we can determine what triggered our emotional response and whether that response is valid for the situation at this time in this place. We carry a lot of baggage from past experiences that might make us wiser but also that could trigger a response that does not fit the current situation.

I also try to put decisions and actions to the test of love. Is my response to this statement, this issue, this event based on loving God and loving my neighbor as myself?

Prayer: Lord, enable me to clothe myself in the habit of seeking first your guidance and example when making decisions. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3820.htm

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

To Whom are We Accountable?

Advent
December 17, 2017

Scripture Reading: John 1:6-8, 19-28

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. –John 1:24-28

False prophets were abundant in the first century as they are now. The officials of the Jewish faith apparently made a point of challenging prophets that arose and shutting them down if their message was not in line with the Pharisees’ doctrine. My guess is the Pharisees were probably more concerned with prophets who drew large followings than others. John apparently fit that description. I do not know who held the Pharisees accountable. I am sure they would say, God.

To whom are we accountable? I have a weird thing going on with my laptop that the technicians cannot explain. I can be typing along waxing eloquent when suddenly my cursor jumps to somewhere else on the page and sometimes the cursor erases a few lines I wrote. The recover arrow has stored nothing to recover. I must confess I wonder at times if God is trying to tell me something. Is what I am writing off base with what God wants me to say? There is the story in Numbers 22:21-39 of Balaam and the donkey where God sent an angel to stop progress, and only the donkey saw the angel. It would be easier if God autocorrected our work and we never had to worry about it.

God created us as partners in God’s service and expects us to use our hearts and our brains in adapting to God’s wisdom. We are held accountable for what we do by the test of love. Does what we say and do past the test of love?

Sojourners Verse & Voice shared a Thomas Merton quote recently that I do not recall ever reading before, but it speaks God’s wisdom which is a good starting place:

The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.

Prayer: God, lead me to a deeper understanding of your love and let that understanding seep into my soul so that love is my automatic first response. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.