Bella Vista Church of Christ

LIFELINES

07/22/2020

Randall Caselman

Having The Heart of Jesus

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king’s horses and all the king's men

Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

  Doesn’t this describe our generation? Our world is falling apart. Nations are in trouble, families are hurting, relationships rupturing, churches dividing, COVID-19 seems to have changed everything about us. Our problems appear unsolvable. What do we do? What can we do? Where is the glue to reassemble the disarray we're seeing? There is an answer...

  Have the mind of Christ. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus"  (Philippians 2.5).The answer is our personally developing the mind of Christ. The Greek here is phroneo. It speaks of an understanding, an attitude, a disposition of mind, heart. Indeed, the glue to fix our broken world is found in thinking like Jesus, behaving as He behaved, reacting to people and life’s circumstances as He reacted. Having the heart of Jesus means we think and live as He thought and lived. Do we want our religion, our faith, to come alive in an exciting lifestyle?

  A heart of humility. "Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing" (Philippians 2.6-7). Humility is a willingness to say: "Thy will be done." A willingness to become nothing for the sake of others. A willingness to place the interests of others before our own. Humility is treating others, regardless of skin color, social status or religious preference as God treats us.

  Becoming a servant. The heart of Jesus was that of a servant. In His ministry, we see Him:  Healing the sick. Casting out devils. Calming the storms in people’s lives. Forgiving the woman taken in adultery. Feeding thousands. Teaching the multitudes. Restoring the fallen. Genuine servanthood is losing ourselves in service to others; when we don’t have the time, when it’s not convenient, when we would rather be doing something else, doing for others when it’s really someone else’s responsibility. Husbands, have the mind of Christ, love and serve your wife and children. Wives, have the mind of Jesus, love, respect, submit to your husband. Children, be like Jesus, care for your parents. Preachers, teachers, deacons, Elders, have the attitude of Jesus, serve the church. As children of God, having a Jesus heart means we serve others, even our enemies. Wouldn’t this attitude go a long way in curing our world's ills?

  Love and obey. "Being found in appearance of a man humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on the cross" Philippians 2.8). Jesus struggled in the garden with the will of God. But in the final analysis it was "not My will, but Thine be done." His love for us compelled His behavior. Now God calls us to such love and obedience. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’...  If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with Him" (Mark 12.30-31, John 14.23).

  Indeed! Our Humpty Dumpty world can be fixed with the heart of Jesus... Amen?

—Randall Caselman