During our first devotions for the season of Lent, we have taken some time to discuss biblical concepts that we have heard about but may haven’t always applied correctly. Our thoughts have focused on our understanding of forgiveness and redemption. Perhaps we have forgiven to the depth that we have restored the relationship. Today’s word helps us focus on our ability to repent.
Today I want to talk about your heart.
One of my favorite artists in the early days of Contemporary Christian Music was Bryan Duncan. His 18 solo albums produced 16 number one songs for the music genre. One of my favorites was the song, “A Heart Like Mine.” Do you remember some of the words?
A Heart Like His
I’ve only one to give
So insecure, a desperate pulse
Racing to Your embrace
That You could want me and seek me
Is more than words could ever say
That You would love me and see in me
A pearl of price, thrown away
A heart like mine
How could it be worthy that You’d find
A way to redeem this hardened clay
Twisted and broken
Oh Father God above
The wonder that You’d love a heart like mine
Bryan reminds me of the wonder of a God who would love a heart like mine.
What is your heart like? King David is described in the Old Testament as a man “after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). What an interesting phrase, not given to Solomon, Job, Moses, or Abraham.
I wish I had a heart like David’s.
I wish I had a heart like a man who was so consumed with lust for another woman that he lured her into the position of committing adultery.
Also, I wish I had a heart like a man who was so consumed with lust for that woman that he plotted to have her husband put in the front line of battle, then ordered the support to retreat so that he would be left to the enemy’s massacre.
Contradictions
I wish I had a heart like a man who then lied and maneuvered so that he would appear innocent to most.
How? Why do leaders fall to temptation? What motivates them to abandon the principles to which they have committed their lives?
And how could David still be called a man after God’s own heart?
The contradictions and paradoxes in characters can only be explained by the grace of a forgiving God. But the difference between David and me lies in our application of the biblical concept of repentance.
A Word Study
Most of us think that repentance means to turn around and head in a different direction. But those thoughts to do not really capture the meaning of the Greek word. I have also heard it explained that the Greek word for repentance is the word from which we get our word “metamorphosis.” While both words carry the same Greek prefix – meta – the root words contain completely different ideas.
The Greek word for repent combines meta—”with”—and voeo—”the mind.” The two words came to mean to understand with depth and insight. Often, when we understand things “better,” we change our minds, but that is not inherent in the word.
In Acts 3:19, the word repent is used with the Greek word meaning to turn around (see also Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:30, Mark 8:33). But the word can also mean “to return, to come back” (Matthew 10:13, Matthew 12:44, Luke 8:55).
Repent
The two verbs work together to express a complete concept that probably sets David and me apart and at odds with each other. If we only repent with our minds, James reminds us that faith without words is dead (James 2:26). I am afraid most of the time my repentance falls here. I truly am sorry that I have sinned. I want so badly in my mind to change. But tomorrow I am likely to fall once again to the same temptations.
On the other hand, if we only turn away from our sins with our actions but our heart is still evil, we really haven’t changed – we have just attempted to live a better life – and in a sense, we are striving to earn God’s favor. If my heart is still evil, I will fall again, it will just be in some other way.
Is it any wonder that David pleas with God, “Create in me a clean heart.”