"Take a Deep Breath While I Listen to Your Heart"
An excerpt from the book
Stick out your Tongue and Say, "Ahhh"
copyright 2003 MEND Workshops LLC
I have this against you - you have lost your first love!
We are all familiar with the stethoscope. During a physical examination the Doctor will use this instrument in order to hear sounds other than the normal "lub-dub" of the heart beating. These abnormal sounds are called heart murmurs and are what the doctor will hear if valves are not opening and closing properly. The valves are the places in the heart that control the flow of blood from one chamber to another.
When valves are working perfectly, they can become almost silent, but sometimes the doctor can hear what will sound like flutters, clicks, gallops, or knocks. In many cases a heart murmur means that something is dreadfully wrong - a congenital heart defect, inflammation, disease or a significant heart disorder.
As James wrote chapter 4 of his letter, he becomes very serious. He uses very strong language as he places the stethoscope on the believer's chest -hoping to hear the normal "lub-dub" of a purified heart - a heart that is beating for the Christian's first love. If he hears anything that sounds like friendship with the world, he knows the patient is in need of radical spiritual treatment.
Charles Spurgeon put it this way, "If I had a brother who had been murdered, what would you think of me if I . . . daily consorted with the assassin who drove the dagger into my brother's heart; surely I too must be an accomplice in the crime. Sin murdered Christ; will you be a friend to it? Sin pierced the heart of the Incarnate God; can you love it?"
Yet, the condition of today's Christian home seems to mirror the world more than it does the Lord. Addressing a national seminar of Southern Baptist leaders, George Gallup said, "We find there is very little difference in ethical behavior between churchgoers and those who are not active religiously . . . The levels of lying, cheating, and stealing are remarkable similar in both groups.
As you allow James to place the stethoscope on your chest today, what will he hear?
James 4
4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.
12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor?
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