Let us open our old heart-soil in this new year and receive a new heart each day, so we can become workers who are used preciously by the Lord God.
Reading Verse: “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.” (Luke 5:38, NASB)
Most people set goals when a new year begins and make new decisions in their hearts. Believers who long for a sanctified heart say, “I will fight to the shedding of blood and cast off all forms of evil. I will become a man of spirit and a man of whole spirit.” They try to become holy through the Word and prayer. They read at least one chapter of the Bible a day, memorize verses, pray without stopping, give thanks in everything, and try to rejoice always. How can we keep these decisions throughout the year without changing them and continue to move forward with a new heart?
1. We must be truthful.
The Lord God watches all things with His eyes like a flame of fire. He knows even the deepest places of our hearts. No creature can deceive Him. But some people try to deceive the Lord God while claiming to believe in Him because their hearts are not truthful.
In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira tried to deceive the Lord God and faced death. They were people who seemed to have faith and wanted to give their property to the Church, but when greed entered, they kept part of the money and brought the rest to the apostles. Peter rebuked them, saying, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?… You have not lied to men but to the Lord God.” After this word, Ananias fell and died. Three hours later, his wife also lied in the same way and died. They did not receive salvation (Acts 5:1–11).
We learn that lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to the Lord God, and deceiving a servant protected by the Lord God is also deceiving the Lord God. This is the same today. If the heart is not truthful, a person may act falsely before the Lord God. Some pretend to long for the Lord God when they do not. Some pretend to have faith when they do not. Later they even deceive themselves. They cannot see their own hypocrisy and think they are faithful workers.
Some people pursue works that are useless to the Kingdom of Heaven to build their own credit. Some are diligent only when someone is watching and careless when alone. Such people are far from truthfulness. As it is written, “for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9, NASB), we must stand before the Lord God with truthful fruit through love and faithfulness.
2. We Must Serve
Serving means sacrificing ourselves to give comfort to another person. To serve someone, we often give our time, money, and effort. But the heart is more important than the outward sacrifice. Even if we give many things, it cannot shine if we do not first consider the other person’s heart.
For example, imagine asking an employee to do a task. He works hard, but his face is stiff and cold. Then you will feel uncomfortable and hesitate to ask him again. Even if he works well, you cannot say “He is serving.” People may say instead, “He is scary.” So we must look back on our words, our expressions, and everything we do from the standard of serving with care for the other person’s heart.
We must also check how much we serve one another with love and sacrifice. In the Church, there are public places such as bathrooms, hallways, and stairs. Some people ignore dirty places and say, “This is not my job.” But others clean them as if it were their own work. The Lord God knows who comes early to wipe desks, who empties the trash, and who helps with cleaning. He sees who loves and serves His sanctuary.
Some people feel unhappy when they receive work they do not want. They think, “Why should I do this? I have more important work. Someone with less work or a lower position should do this.” If they serve with such a heart, even though they acted outwardly, it cannot become a reward before the Lord God.
In the world, results are everything. But in the Church, faith and love are what bring reward. In the world, people do only the work they are paid for. But in the Church, everything related to the work of the Lord God is our duty. So we should not limit ourselves to our own assigned tasks. We must widen our hearts to embrace more.
In the world, those with lower positions serve, and those with higher positions are served. But the Lord God says that the one who serves is the greatest. Anyone can serve outwardly, but we must serve with the center of our heart. Then the Lord God will call that person “great,” people will respect him, and he will dwell in shining glory like the sun in the Kingdom of Heaven.
3. We Must Act
Here, “acting” means hearing the Word of the Lord God, keeping it in our hearts, and practicing it. “for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before the Lord God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.” (Romans 2:13, NASB)
It is not easy to practice the truth from the beginning. But we must keep trying without stopping. Then the Lord God will see our effort and give us grace and strength to change into spirit. Even if we are lacking, when we obey and act, He refines us and uses us as workers.
When people first receive a duty, they decide to become sanctified so they can fulfill it. But after their faith grows and their position becomes higher, some lose their longing for circumcision of the heart. This is because they know the truth only as knowledge and do not practice it.
Such people cover their evil or suppress it instead of casting it off. They may avoid big sins and keep peace, and they do what they must do. So they think they are doing well. But will the Lord God call them good and faithful?
We must always examine ourselves. Are we attending worship or prayer meetings as a habit or unwillingly? If this continues, our faith will stop growing, the fullness of the Holy Spirit will fade, and we may begin to follow the works of the flesh. If this grows worse, we may even fall into works of the flesh that make salvation difficult.
When we first received the Lord, we were full of first love. We served the Kingdom of Heaven with passion. We skipped meals to attend worship on time. We loved the Word of life and prayed with fasting so we could change. But if we stop trying at some point, we no longer grow spiritually.
The Lord God does not want His beloved children to stay in dead faith without action. “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.” (Luke 5:38, NASB) We must cast off the old heart and be renewed by the heart. Then we can serve all people with truth and action, keep peace with one another, follow order, and become workers who build the Kingdom of Heaven greatly.
Plus
Who were Ananias and Sapphira?
They were a married couple in the early Church. At that time, believers voluntarily sold their possessions and gave them to the Lord God. But Ananias and Sapphira kept part of the money and lied that they gave all of it to the apostles. Because they lied to the Holy Spirit and to the Lord God, their souls left their bodies and they died.
Memory Verse: “for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” (Ephesians 5:9, NASB)
Reference Verse: “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3, NASB)
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of the Lord God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2, NASB)
