TOPIC:‌"Making the Heart Holy"

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌I Peter 3:13-17

 

"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord" (I Peter 3:15, NIV)

‌

‌Have you ever thought of the seeming contradictions of the Bible? We call them paradoxes. Here are a few of them: If you want to live you must be willing to die. If you desire to increase you must decrease. The way up is the way down. When you are weak then you are strong. Here is the one that I want to develop in this message: If you want to be free you must become a prisoner. The Apostle Paul described himself this way: "I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 3:1). And as a prisoner Paul encountered a freedom he had never known before.

 

‌I am speaking here of the full and rich freedom which Jesus was talking about when He declared: "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:34). This is precisely what George Matheson, the famous hymn writer, had in mind when he wrote these words in one of his hymns:

 

‌‌"Make me a captive Lord,

‌‌ And then I shall be free;

‌‌Force me to render up my sword,

‌‌ And I shall conq'ror be.

 

‌‌I sink in life's alarms

‌‌ When by myself I stand;

‌‌Imprison me within Thine arms,

‌‌ And strong shall be my hand."

 

‌Now Jesus Christ wants to be the Master within our hearts, and not only to reside there, but to reign there. After all it is His throne-room not ours. He alone as Creator, Redeemer and King deserves to occupy the throne of our lives. But if Christ is not permitted to reign within your life, you may be certain that your throne-room which is your central self will not remain unoccupied. There are a hundred ambitious and unworthy rivals that are just waiting to be invited to occupy the throne of your hearts and give you their marching orders.

 

‌So there you have it. The human heart - God's throne-room - tarnished and desecrated by us in so many different ways. Here in the words of our text the Apostle Peter is calling for us, through the power of Christ, to change our way of living. He wants to be "set apart in our hearts as Lord." Let us seek to know what . . .