Side By Side: 2-3

Our Hearts Are Busy: Chapter 2

Paul Tripp, our parenting book author, has a quote that has shaped my life greatly.

He says :Human beings do not live based on the facts of their existence we live life based on the interpretation of the facts.”

We do not experience the events of our life. We experience the way we interpret the events of our life.

this shapes everything you do, the choices you make, the things you say, the way you interact in your relationships.

This all happens in our hearts

Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love Chapter 2: Our Hearts Are Busy “Our hearts are always stirring with activity. They guide our thoughts and actions as we interact with all our circumstances: our body, our relationships, our work, spiritual beings and the world, and God.”

Welch calls our heart our spiritual center

As tripp said our interpretation of life comes from the heart…which is why we need others and the word to speak to those interpretations as we don’t get it right often

Welch has 4 parts that come from our hearts

Emotions

“Our emotions, it turns out, reveal what is most dear to us (e.g., Pss. 25:17; 45:1) (p. 24)”

This part really hit me and will make most of us i hope see where we all need help from God first and each other

“track down those strong feelings, first in yourself and then in others. When do you notice yourself getting excited? What are your joys? Your sorrows?

Watch friends light up when they talk about a child, a spouse, a musical group, Jesus, work, or a sport. We will hear them slow down when touching on something that is especially hard, as if they were suddenly carrying a weight. We might notice a flash of anger: “I will never be like my father.” If we are trusted, we might hear of fears, hidden pain, and shame—matters that we prefer to keep private.

We could sum up our emotions this way: they usually proceed from our hearts, are given shape by our bodies, reflect the quality of our relationships, bear the etchings of both the goodness and the meaninglessness of work, provide a peek into how we fare in spiritual battle, and identify what we really believe about God.(p. 25). “

Good

“Since God created us, and created things always bear some quality of their creator (pp. 26–27).”

I am asked what it is that we can do in evangelism and missions in a culture where people don’t know what sin or hell or Jesus is

This is the answer. The very fact that we all long and notice the absence of goodness, or truth, or beauty is how

And there is no greater mission field then our own heart

There is no place that needs the gospel preached more than our own hearts

He gives some examples of how to see this in ourselves and in each other

“we are able to see good things in one another. It comes in so many forms:

• Neighbors help each other.

• Strangers return lost wallets.

• Employees work hard, even when the boss is on vacation.

• Spouses acknowledge when they are wrong.

• Car mechanics are honest. (p. 27). “

He ends with this :

“Our eye for God’s reflected goodness is important in the way we help, “(p. 27)

Bad

Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love Bad Comes from the Heart

Yet while we all acknowledge the bad within us, we are less willing to acknowledge that it is sin. Sin means that our badness is primarily directed against God, and most people are not consciously shaking their fist at God. Instead, we are not thinking about him at all. So how can bad behavior be sin?

Think of the parenting book we did. Paul Trip asked when we are upset at our kids “are we mad they disrupted God’s kingdom or mad they disrupted mine”

That exposed my selfishness and my heart and how much i set myself as king, or doubt God’s character, or doubt his control, or need from others what only he can give

Its all bad

Allegiances

Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love Spiritual Allegiances Come from the Heart

Those who feel guilty might assume that God is like a mere human being who forgives begrudgingly and with strings attached.

Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love Spiritual Allegiances Come from the Heart

Notice how the apostle Paul prays for us:

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. (Eph. 1:16–17; see also 3:14–19)

Paul understands that the deepest need of our hearts is God—to know him accurately and follow him. This means that if we want to both be helped and truly help others, we will always be aiming for this.

Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love Spiritual Allegiances Come from the Heart

Whether or not we say the actual name of Jesus to a needy friend, we always aim for Jesus.

Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love Spiritual Allegiances Come from the Heart

The heart is busy. It is our spiritual center. The evidence for its activity can be seen every day in the human mash-up of good, bad, fears, frustrations, joys, and sorrows. Trace these to the heart’s very core and we come face-to-face with the true God and the condition of our relationship to him. Are we trying to eke out an existence by ourselves in the desert, or are we busily sending out roots by the water?

Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love Discussion and Response > Chapter 2: Our Hearts Are Busy

Discussion and Response

1) Can you describe the heart in a few sentences?

2) Give some examples of how your feelings are linked to what is happening in your relationship with God.

Hard Circumstances Meet Busy Hearts: Chapter 3