Research released by The Heart
Foundation showed that Tasmania had the highest rate of cardiovascular disease
in Australia. Lack of exercise, poor diet, alcohol and smoking combined with
high blood pressure and cholesterol combined to kill. The sad part was that
many were in life’s prime and their failure to look after themselves was fatal.
This becomes a metaphor for moral and spiritual heart
problems. With the Bible the heart is the term which can cover a person’s total
inner life. The Bible could be described as the X-Ray machine or the MRI of the
soul and what it reveals is a threatening disease. An assistant to the Great
Physician who is Jesus Christ wrote ‘The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure. Who can understand it?’ (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV)In other words,
each of us are in a terminal state, morally and spiritually. This doesn’t
simply apply to earthly life and relationships for it also affects our
eternity.
As God can see the heart we cannot fool Him by acting nice.
Those closest to us have seen the outworking of our diseased heart through our
tongue, business dealings, immoral behaviour or hypocritical life. In the media
we read or see reports of the more virulent expressions of a diseased heart in
child abuse, murder, corruption and the madness of the Islamic State with its
cruelty and depravity. In our own solitude we may long to be cured and find
resources to enable us to change and live with a wholesome heart. Can the Bible
show us the Great Physicians healthy heart program?
Because the issues of the heart are moral and spiritual it
requires similar medication, diet and exercise to deal with it. As with any
doctorand patient relationship the sufferer must realise he has a problem. Then
he must have faith in the doctor’s training, skill and understanding of the
issues involved and the treatment needed. In the moral and spiritual sickness
realm there are many ‘quacks’ whether religious or humanistic. Trouble is they
cannot see the inner realm of your person. But Dr Jesus can! He is the creator
of the world. He is the Lord and more than that He is the Saviour who has
authority to work on a person’s inner being.
Let us read two testimonies from the Bible of those who have
undergone Jesus Christ’s transforming surgery and treatment.
David: ‘Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash
me, and I will be whiter than snow. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew
a right spirit within me.’ (Psalm 51) How could Jesus do that? By the authority
of being the one who dealt with sin on the cross and rose from the dead,
leaving a believer’s sin in the tomb.
People: ‘When the people heard this (about Jesus, the cross
and resurrection and their own heart) they were cut to the heart and said to
Peter and the other apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”’ (Acts 2:37) Peter
replied “Repent and be baptised every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
The effect of that on those who believed is told in Acts 2:46: ‘They broke
bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.
The Bible is the moral and spiritual resource book for a
continual healthy and happy heart. Within its pages you will find lifestyle
‘diets’ which will safeguard you from the depravity and diseases rampant in the
world scene. There are certain ‘exercises’ such as worship, doing good deeds
and caring for others which keep your inner life trim and terrific. Another
great feature of allowing Jesus Christ to cleanse your life is that He puts a
new song within. Instead of a lament you can have the heavenly rhapsody. It
even sounds out and keeps us in harmony with the Lord in the darkest of times.
There is so much more the Saviour and Great Physician, Jesus
Christ offers. Read about it in the book, the Bible. As the Psalmist so neatly
put it ‘Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.’
Psalm 119:111.
