Heart Study

Day 4

MEDITATION 4 - A Repentant Heart

GIVING AND RECEIVING FORGIVENESS

Hopefully, your reflections on the heart have led you to conclude that the hardness or openness of you heartbeat matters to Jesus. Hopefully, you are beginning to think about the purpose of your heartbeat. And hopefully, you are seeing the truth about the human heart. There is both goodness and sin in every single heart.

We have examined the reality that when we choose to act with cold hearts, we sin and fail to love Jesus and others. Soft hearts, however, choose love. Jesus suffered and died to set us free from having to choose cold hearts. Jesus softened His heart to love by laying down His life for you and for me. Opening our hearts to the greatest act of love ever…Jesus’ death on the cross and His rising from the dead, is our path to true forgiveness and love.

But how do we maintain a soft heart to Jesus (God) and others in a cold, hard world filled with painful crosses? The only path from a cold heart to a soft, loving heart is the path of forgiveness. Forgiveness for cold-hearted sin is a gift to us from God the Father, Jesus the son and the Holy Spirit (aka The Holy Trinity or Three in One God-head). After we have opened and examined our hearts before Jesus, we must seek our Creator’s forgiveness for our cold-hearted sins against God and others. Reading the 10 Commandments (Exodus) and Matthew 5-7 can help us look at the sin in our hearts.

After examining the sin in our hearts, we must confess (state and admit) to Jesus that we have sinned against His perfect love, that we believe in His love and embrace His free gift of forgiveness. We must truly repent and feel sorrow in our hearts for our sin. If we do so, He will forgive us. This is called a “repentant heart”. A repentant heart is a soft heart and Jesus loves this. It allows Him to come close to us.

Forgiveness is a gift that Jesus gives to us when we ask for it. Sinless Jesus died on a cross and came back to life (there were many recorded witnesses to this) so that a just price for our sins could be paid. Being just, Jesus does not overlook sin…yours or mine or anyone else’s. There is always a price for sin; someone always suffers from sin and Jesus does not like us hurting each other. So sinless Jesus put to death our sins by hanging on a cross and resurrecting from the dead to conquer death for those of us who call upon Him and follow after Him.

There is more…Jesus asks us to give the same gift of forgiveness given to us back to others. “…forgive and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). Jesus also says, “For if you forgive others for their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-16) The love that flows from God’s heart to forgive us is the same love He wants to flow out of us to the world to forgive others.

Forgiveness is not because anyone deserves it. We did not deserve Jesus’ dying for our sins either. He did it anyway. Forgiveness is a choice. It is the ultimate expression of undeserved love to sinners. It is simply the choice not to retaliate at someone who has wronged us. Forgiveness is what Jesus means by “turning the other check” and “praying for those who persecute you”. Jesus says, “If you do these things, “you are children of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5-7) Forgiveness is your Creator’s desire for all of us. If we forgive, we are being like Jesus. God loves this too.

It is a choice to say, “Once I chose a hard heart and sinned and God forgave me, but now I open my heart to Jesus and I choose a soft heart and I forgive others. I will do this because Jesus reached out to my heart and I will reach back to Him by doing what He says…. forgive. “

Your forgiving, softened heart has created a new space for Jesus. That space in your heart belongs to Jesus. He can help you can look at what others have done to you with a forgiving heart. You can ask Him to hold your hand as you do. You can look with Him at everything you hate in the world and then forgive it; you can forgive all. You are now acting with God’s heart and forgiving a broken world. There is more space for Jesus now, there is more space for love. You will be different now.

You may also feel very sorry for what you have done, You may feel God’s sorrowful heart at what you have done or what others have done to you. This is good. Your Creator says that “those who mourn now on earth will one day be joyful with him in heaven. “(Matthew 5: 4) Realize when you forgive and seek forgiveness you have cleaned your heart and can see God with you heart more clearly. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5)

GOD’S HEART IN WORDS

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence do not rely.

Proverbs 18:12 Before his downfall a man’s heart is haughty, but humility goes before his honor.

Psalm 51:7 Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over him who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

THINK ABOUT …

Asking God to forgive you, forgive others, everyone who hurt and continues to hurt, mistreat and abuse you (this makes you like God) (Matthew 5:44-45).
Accepting the battle in your heart to decide to forgive or not to forgive. Look at the difference between good and evil and that only forgiveness carries enough love to conquer evil. (Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12: 21)
Realizing that every time you forgive others or ask for forgiveness you are opening your heart back up to God (Matthew 5).
Forgiveness saving us all…(Romans 10:8-10) If you believe in your heart YOU will be saved.

DO IT:

Make a list of what you have done to hurt God and others, feel it in your heart than as Jesus to forgive you. Be very detailed and do this twice a day for the rest of your life so you can stay close to Jesus. This is how maintain a soft hard to God and men.
Make a list of who has hurt you, then, thinking about Jesus on the cross, forgive each person. It is easier to think of Jesus as you forgive. It can be hard to forgive others as you think about them. It is a decision He says we must make if we want soft hearts.

Pray for those who persecute you, abuse you, mock you, ignore you… “that you may be sons of your father in heaven.” They do not deserve it, but neither do you. Praying for them means God will catch up with them and turn their hearts too.
Call upon Jesus and repent that you have sinned against Him and others, and ask Him to save your heart and your life, Tell Him thank you for the cross, that you believe He died for you on the cross. Tell Him that you humbly ask Him into your heart and persist to follow after Him! Keep turning away from sin and toward Him, His church, His words and heart in Sacred Scripture/ Holy Bible! Do it again and again until you see Him in heaven!

Joel 2:32

And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has promised, among the remnant called by the LORD.

Acts 2:21

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'