In Our Heart

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

IN THE HEART

2 Cor 6:17-18

17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." 18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."  

NIV

What is unclean? Of course, in those days and in regard to the Israelites, a whole list of animal types such as pigs, horses, and camels were unclean as well as many birds, such as the owl, hawk, raven, bats, and eagles were unclean. The list of unclean also included any fish without scales or fins, and thus included scrimp, clams, lobster, and crabs. However, we are past all those laws of the Old Testament and, in fact, Peter learned that lesson well when he saw that blanket full of animals and insisted that nothing unclean had touched his lips and the Lord told him that he should not call anything impure that God has declared clean. Then we also have the teaching of Jesus when he said that nothing that goes into our mouth makes us unclean, but rather it is what comes out of our mouth that makes us unclean, and we know that what comes out of our mouth is what resides in our heart. These words of Paul do start with therefore, which reference that whole idea of not being in any agreement with the unbelievers and not having anything in common with them, or not being yoked in any way with them. So, this is a continuation of that thought and Paul makes the point that we are not to even think or speak in the same manner as the unbeliever but to come out of the world and all its unclean ways of their hearts. This has nothing to do with food or drink, but all to do with the condition of our heart. God has made all food and drinks clean as he demonstrated to Peter, but the heart is a whole different matter. How we perceive life, how we approach life, our thoughts, and responses to life, what is in our heart is what either makes us clean or unclean.  We say that we have Jesus in our heart, or that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, but does our heart really reflect this truth is the question we must ask ourselves. What are the desires of our hearts? God says he will give us the desires of our heart, but the condition to that is that we delight ourselves in the Lord. It is interesting that Hebrew word translated as delight means to be pliable, soft. That is, then if we, if our heart is soft and pliable to God, he will give us the desires of our heart, which he has influenced, such as this word grace which his divine influence, on our pliable heart. So then, our desires will be His desires, as we have also been instructed to flee from our youthful desires. God also has told us that he would fulfill our desires of those who fear or revere Him. We cannot live the same way the unclean, or unbeliever and the main difference is in our hearts.