"Take Care"

The Hebrew writer warns: "Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God." (Heb. 3:12) It is hard for some to believe they could have an evil, unbelieving heart, yet this was spoken from the mouth of God to His children because we are not immune!

When we speak of unbelievers, we think of the world, those separated from Christ and those not in Christ. It is easy to find them. But unbelievers can be found among the body of Christ, those for years who have slowly drifted and stopped heeding. An evil heart is a heart that does not work from pure motives and justifies their actions. An evil heart works to take advantage of others. Esau had an evil heart (Heb. 12:16-17) and sold his spiritual well being for food! An unbelieving heart is a heart that no longer responds to the will of God. They listen time after time, but because they have become dull of hearing, they no longer respond to God's word. For instance, God asks people to be forgiving. That's the will of God. When one will not forgive, are they believing? Are the obedient? Israel was strewn all over the wilderness with dead bodies because they were disobedient to God's word because of unbelief (Heb. 3:18-19).

We need to heed and take inventory. Are we just going through the motions of "religion" or do we respond by faith? Faith keeps one moving forward, reaching, desiring and making progress. Faith leads us to convictions and commitment to our Lord and His cause. Faith grows in a good and believing heart. How does one know if they have a good, believing heart? They do not back off of spiritual growth. They are not lazy in the spiritual life, but longing and wanting to let go of the things that corrupt them while taking in more and more of Christ. Jesus said a good and honest heart is seen when on takes the word, responds to that word and allows it to grow them (Matt. 13:23). The fruit is the seen result.

We need to be careful that we have not become dull in our senses. We need to watch over our motives and heart with every step. We need to encourage one another to move forward so sin will not deceive us or harden us (Heb. 3:13). We need to make certain that when God's word hits our heart, we respond. That's what a good, honest and believing heart will do. Above all...take care!