Of any of life’s journeys, I think this journey from the mind to the heart is the most important. So far in our School of Biblical Studies, I’ve read through and studied Paul’s letter to Titus, the Galatians and the Ephesians and the Gospel of Mark (partly). I am struck by this theme of going from the mind to the heart.
Paul really stresses this in Ephesians. He prays twice for them in the letter, one for “a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened” (1:17) and secondly “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (3:19). In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus also talks about hardness of heart as the cause of unbelief.
In my life, I knew the story of Jesus, the gospel, but it wasn’t until I understood it in my heart that I was compelled to start living for Him. Another area of Paul’s writing that struck me was Paul calling himself a steward of God’s grace. He spends a few paragraphs on how its a gift to be a minister and apostle. This got me reflecting on how I steward God’s grace that was given to me. Do I accept grace for my own salvation or do I share it?
I know in my mind I should share the grace of God with others. The concept and the command is familiar to me “go and share the good news to all creation”. It makes sense in my head, I’m only now understanding it in my heart enough to where I’m compelled to tell others. The more concrete in the heart knowledge of God becomes the more the lies from the enemy don’t matter.
I think this is displayed beautifully in Acts when Paul wants to get before the theater in Ephesus full of chaos and near riot because he wants to continue preaching about God. He most likely would have died amidst the crowds shouts of, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”. She was a very popular god in the area. His disciples held him back from going on the stage. Paul had heart revelation on God’s heart for the lost.
I probably would have ran away from this crowd in fear. Check out the photo to the right (click to enlarge) to see just how big the stadium was. Imagine it packed with a riotous crowd. Paul was willing to give up his life for the Ephesians. He was just a mere man, but prayed for revelation from the Father to understand His heart. It’s a dangerous prayer, but I don’t think Paul ever regretted praying it for himself and the Ephesian christians.
My wife and I are part of the Awaken Community. We desire restoration and reconciliation in the broken and lost. We both love God and are committed to following his will. I enjoys taking photographs of my travels as well as blogging about awesome things God does or teaches me. To see more photos, visit our gallery. More about Calvin and Camille
2 Comments
You are a legend. I love this.
Jeremy
4/10/2011
haha, thanks! We have to do final applications after each book, and reading Ephesians has led me to get on the evangelism team as my ministry. Should be fun, seeing that I don’t speak chinese!
Calvin
4/11/2011
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