God designed us to function, produce, and create based on what is in our minds and hearts. Our minds and hearts are integral to any level of happiness and fulfillment we experience in life. When we understand this, we can also comprehend the importance of Proverbs 4:23(NLT). In this verse, God instructs us to, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” This is something He has charged us to do, and if He told us to do it, He will not do it for us; redundancy is not in His nature. To guard our hearts is to be careful, and to watch what goes in them and what comes out of them. Guarding our hearts is solely our responsibility, because our human will is totally under our own self-government. In other words, God has given us, you and me, the ability to control our destinies through our wills. So, if we have failed to guard our hearts, and have allowed our wills to be controlled by obsession and fear, we have lost guardianship of our hearts, and this is a dangerous situation.
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21(NLT)
Heavenly Father will not override our free-will choices. This means that He’s not going to invade our body-temples and begin to take all the bad thoughts and feelings out, and then replace them with thoughts and feelings that line up with the example of Jesus Christ. Instead, in Ephesians 4:23, He tells us to be made new in the attitude of our minds. We must reprogram our thoughts so that they line up with the mind of Christ. The born-again experience gives us new software, and it is up to you and me to program our minds and hearts as the Holy Spirit restores us with a new operating system.
This is terrifically good news for the person looking to change their lives, but a person running an obsession program in their hearts may find this a scary prospect. The reason for this is because fear is their root directory. An obsession program tells us that we can’t be whole without the toxic relationship and person we’re clinging to. We know they’re toxic and harmful to our souls, but our need to have the person in our lives is greater than our desire to heal without them. The program running in our minds tells us that having the person in our lives is better than being alone, even though they’re disrespecting us by seeing other people and not honoring the sanctity of our body-temples. This is bad programming. It is playing into the devil’s hands, because obsession and fear are his programs.
In Luke 18:17(NLT), Jesus Christ said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” A child responds to a loving parent in humility, understanding the parent wants only the best for them and will never tell them anything wrong. This dynamic is critical for the child of God, because we can’t enter the Kingdom without this level of humility. God’s Word is truth! He will never tell us anything wrong, and when we truly believe this, we will allow Him to help us extricate from our lives the person that is a stronghold. This is a mark of our humility to the Lord Jesus Christ.
In this same chapter of the Gospel of Luke, a man asked Jesus Christ what He should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus replied in Luke 18:20(NLT), “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother.” The man said, “Cool! I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young. So, I’m good, right!?” Jesus Christ answered, “There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Brother man walked away incredibly sad, because he was very rich, and couldn’t bring himself to part with his riches.
In Luke 18:29-30(NLT), Jesus said, “I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God, will be repaid many times over in this life, and will have eternal life in the world to come.” When it comes to securing our eternal home, there are things we absolutely must give up. Anything that causes us to sin, be dependent or addicted, and takes us away from the destiny God’s has ordained for our lives has to go. In the case of the rich man, it was his possessions. He held on to them for dear life. With many sisters today, it’s a man who isn’t a destiny partner. He’s not the one God has for us, but we won’t let him go.
Your heart is a container, and many of us have tried to fit a whole person in it that’s not Jesus Christ. Listen, Jesus can’t be a sidekick; not ever. That’s the biggest mistake any of us can make. He’s the whole enchilada! He tells us over and over again that we must love the Lord our God with ALL our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Can’t be squeezing him in sideways. We’ve got to take authority over our hearts, become better guardians of them, and make sure that we’re filling our containers with God’s love; it should be the only love we cling to for dear life.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Jesus Can’t Be a Sidekick” written for Crazynlove.com ©2019. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!