Jesus said it is what comes out of a person’s heart that defiles. So what is in our hearts? Since we do not have spiritual x-ray vision, it is sometimes difficult for us to see what is inside. But one good way of learning what is in us is to pay attention to what comes out of us when we get bumped by the trials, temptations and difficult people of daily life. What comes out of us is what’s inside.

We are are so quick to blame external things–people and circumstances–for our anger and impatience and lust and bitterness and envy and hatefulness that spill out when things get hot and heavy. But external things do not defile us.

We are sometimes surprised by the intensity of our own ugly responses, but we shouldn’t be. The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

Of course, the prophet is speaking in human terms. But the cure for the condition of the heart is found in Christ alone.

We have been considering that when we lack any of the Christian graces, such as faith or patience or self-control, the proper response is not simply to try harder, to resolve to have more faith, patience or self-control. Rather our efforts must be placed in obtaining more of Christ. This is the goal of the spiritual disciplines: Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, stewardship, fasting, etc. (cf., Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney, Navpress, 1991, 2014.) The spiritual disciplines are not simply what good Christians do. They are not ends in themselves. They are the means by which Christians put themselves in the path of God’s grace and receive more of Christ.

The most important of the spiritual disciplines is intake of God’s Word. Jesus Himself said that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It is in God’s Word that we apprehend Christ. Without the Word, we cannot not know Christ. All of the other disciplines take their place as proper responses to the revelation of Christ in God’s Word.

By the power of the Spirit, when we get into God’s Word, God’s Word gets into us. That is to say, Christ (the Word Incarnate) gets into us. And when Christ is in us, He is what spills out when we get bumped by external things.

Last week at the Thursday night small group meeting at Connections (We had five in attendance!), we discussed Bible memorization as a powerful (though overlooked) means of taking God’s Word into us. We decided we should begin to memorize the Word together, including chapter and verse!

So here is our first Bible Memory Verse, which provides us a good reason to memorize the Word. (If you prefer, you may memorize the verse in German.)

I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:11 (NIV)

Let us encourage one another in this regard, especially when we assemble and meet together.