By Brian
Mitchell
“Placing
the hands of his watch on the counter, a man asked, can this be repaired? Well, the jeweler asked, where is the rest of
the watch? The man replied by saying, the rest of the watch is fine; it is the
hands that don’t work. No, no, replied the jeweler, it is not the hands; it is
what is on the inside that needs fixing.”
If we are not careful it is easy for our
lives to become just like that watch. Even though we may only be able to see
the outward signs of the problem, in reality what really needs to be fixed is
on the inside. When Simon the Sorcerer
desired to purchase the gift of laying on hands in (Acts 8), he was rebuked by
Peter who rightly understood that the real root of his sin was the fact that
“his heart was not right in the sight of God” (Acts 8:21).
Although sin many times manifests itself
with visible outward signs of disobedience to God, the real problem is not just
in the sinful actions; but in the root cause of the actions themselves. It is
here that there is usually a problem with one’s heart—Mt.15:16-19. So, before
we can change our sinful actions, we must change what is in the heart or in the
mind.
If we are to truly grow as a loving
Christian, we need to examine what Paul has to say about love in 1 Corinthians
13. There we will see a list of both negatives and positives emerge in
(vs.4-6). What these verses will show us is what one whose heart is full of
love refuses to do and what they will do. As we first consider Paul’s
exhortations in vs.4-6, these verses lead us to think about what is on the
inside and teach us about the “Heart of a 1 Corinthians 13 Christian.” The
Heart of a 1 Corinthians 13 Christian is a heart full of kindness, humility, sacrifice,
forgiveness and integrity.
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