My
Heart’s Dining Room
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6
A couple decades ago, I became
acquainted with a little booklet called, “My
Heart, Christ’s Home.”
The author, Robert Munger, has since gone to be with the Lord but left
an indelible impression on my life through several encounters as a student in
his classes through my studies. His
little booklet has become world renowned as it describes a picture the Lord
gave him of what it means to give Christ Lordship in every area of our
hearts.
He described the picture of what it
would be like if we invited Christ into rooms of our heart. Oftentimes, we forget that Christ has
not only come to be our Savior…but He wants to be our Lord. The term “Savior” can often have the idea of
saving us from sin and giving us a place in heaven. However, the term “Lord” means giving Him
full reign in our hearts. In the home
of our hearts we would find many rooms that would describe what is going on in
our lives. If you were to picture in
your mind the places that you have lived, each one would generally signify or
symbolize something special. Times in
rooms where you played together. Times
where you had talks. Times where you ate. Rooms are generally reserved for special
activities in the home. Over the next
few days, I want to describe several of those beginning with the “Dining Room”
of our lives.
Munger shared that when we invite
Christ into our homes, we will decide if we let Him into the areas where our
appetites abound which is our place of dining.
The truth is, we live in a world where each of us have tremendous appetites…and
we attempt to fill those needs in many different ways…some good and some bad. Before we know Christ, our appetites hunger
for things that don’t always edify but nullify a healthy life. Jesus shared in,
The Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) “But when we
come to know Christ, He begins to renew our appetites for things of
righteousness and purity.
To say that we don’t have needs is to
deny a core area of each of our lives. As you look at your own life and the lives of
those around you, you will find certain needs that are common to all of us. God put these desires in our heart from the
beginning. These include companionship,
achievement or success, love, security, basic needs, acceptance, forgiveness, intimacy,
healing of past emotions, inner peace, and more. Just as important as understanding that we
have needs in our lives, is the understanding that there is a certain way that
we should go about having those needs met.
To fulfill those needs in the right way means a life of fulfillment. To fulfill those needs in the wrong way will
bring about disaster. It doesn’t matter
what century or millennium you are talking about, this has been an age old problem
that man has run up against.
In Neil Postman’s book, We Are Amusing Ourselves to Death, he
says in the 18th century, America
was represented by Boston America
was represented by Chicago and New York
Someone wrote, “Pleasure is now big business in America. It's what drives the economy. We're in a 24-hour entertainment society now.
Everything has to entertain us, even the news on the television has to be
entertaining. You go into a bank and
stand in line and they've got things on the walls to read so you're entertained
while you're waiting in line. Even
church has to be entertaining for many people today.”
In the process, the more we try to fill it, the more empty we seem to
become. Our motto is, “More, more,
more!”
We generally find there are three
kinds of appetites in our dining room that are:
1. N-egative Appetites
Anger,
addictions, drugs, pornography, bitterness, and undisciplined living are but a
few we are encouraged to avoid. Titus
2:11-12, "For the grace of God
teaches us to say ‘No' to worldly passions and live self-controlled
lives."
2) N-eutral Appetites
God says in 1
Timothy 6:17, "He richly provides us
with everything for our enjoyment."
Scuba diving, Disneyland, basketball, hobbies, water skiing, fishing, Snickers
(in moderation), Cookie Dough ice cream and so many more are enjoyable things
God offers that are for our enjoyment.
Contrary to popular opinion, God really has provided many things for us
to enjoy.
3)
N-urturing Appetites
Finally, God has given
us many things that grow us up in Him.
In Philippians
4:6
As we give Christ
entrance into the kitchen and dining rooms of our hearts, He, by the power of
the Holy Spirit in us, changes our appetites so that we “hunger and thirst
after righteousness.” The result is that “we will be filled.”
(Matthew 5:6) Or as Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see, that the Lord is
good.” Now that’s what I call “5-Star
Living.”
Terry
Risser
Reflections:
1) What appetite do you have today that falls
into the “negative appetite” area?
2) Ask the Holy Spirit to begin to replace it
with a new hunger that fills you from Him.
Consider reading the Word today;
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
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