[Darris McNeely] I’ve been talking about the fellowship of the heart and exactly what God is doing with us, wants to do with us, if we allow it. Last time I talked about Jeremiah 17:9, which says that the heart is desperately wicked and evil, and who can know it? A condition of the heart that has not been touched by God, that has not been changed. But that is not what God wants us  – where He wants us to stay. The Bible shows that we can change from that evil heart and a heart that produces a lot of thoughts, actions and attitudes that come out that are sin. The biblical “heart”, remember, is the seat of our emotion, our attitudes – it’s not just the actual heart muscle itself. But when the Bible talks about the heart, it is talking about the attitude that we have and how we relate not only to God, but certainly how we relate one to another.

There’s a scripture in Romans chapter 8, beginning in verse 12 that we should note, because it talks about a change that takes place that begins to work on our heart. In Romans 8:12, the apostle Paul talks about not being debtors to the flesh or to live according to the flesh, but “if you live according to the flesh, you will die.” In other words, if we continue living like Jeremiah 17:9 says, with a heart that is desperately wicked, death is the end result and a lot of suffering in the meantime. But if we live by the spirit, Paul says, “you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” To be led by the spirit of God is something completely different. “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’.” When one receives God’s spirit, there is a change that takes place, we enter into a different relationship with God, with our Father, that is what I like to call the “fellowship of the heart”, and opens up a whole new dimension of understanding about what God is doing.

Verse 16 says, “The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). And so, we come to a point based upon repentance, on receiving God’s holy spirit, and many – the steps that must be biblically followed to lead up to that point. But ultimately, we come into a different relationship with God where we are led by His holy spirit. And that is the fellowship of the heart that God talks about here, or at least I’m talking about here in these Dailys, that helps us to understand the change that can come about. Because while we can beat ourselves up and we can understand the nature – the basic, raw human nature apart from God producing a lot of the problems, the sin, the corruption, and the evil that inhabits the world, and maybe a part of your life going on with you right now that you’re struggling with – God doesn’t want us to stay there. And we should look at our hearts and our attitudes as something that can be changed if we allow God to work with them and to reach us in that way.

There’s another favorite scripture of mine on this topic – it’s in the book of Luke 8:15 – that elevates our appreciation of our heart and of this condition that we have into what Romans 8 is actually showing, if we look at what is said here, in a parable of the sower and the seed, where Christ Himself – in Luke 8:15 – talks about the changes that we can make, or the growth, that we can make in our lives, a tangible difference in our life that makes us better people in this relationship with God as a son, and looking to Him as our Father. When we receive that spirit, and we begin to change, Christ says the condition or the attitude of that is one that has the seed of God’ spirit, or the seed that falls on good ground. He said, “They are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” A noble and a good heart. These people described in this parable in Luke 8:15, are those who receive God’s spirit, as described in Romans chapter 8, and then with a different heart – that’s the point. Not a heart that’s evil, desperately wicked, and against God, enmity against God. But a heart that is in a relationship with God, and it revolutionizes every aspect of our life and then facilitates or allows us to make the changes that we can make to live a better life, not only toward God, but also in our families, toward our fellow human beings. To have that fellowship of the heart. Getting to that point is a very important step. What is happening, exactly, when that begins?

Well, we’ll come back in a third installment of this series and talk a little bit about that and help us to understand some things that are, I think, critical to how we look not only at God, and not only about ourselves, but also how we respond to one another and allow a heart that is noble and good to come out.

That’s BT Daily. Join us next time.