Heart Check Part 2 – Which one…My truth or the Truth?

A cunning man bought an old white mule from a farmer and promised to pick it up the next day. When he arrived the farmer informed him that the mule had died and he had already spent the money. The man said no problem and ask for help to load the mule, the farmer asked, "What are you going to do with a dead mule?" He said, "I'm going to raffle it off." About a month later the farmer ran into the man and asked him how the sale went. The man said “Great! I sold 1000 raffle tickets at $5 apiece." The farmer said, “You must have a lot of people mad at you!” The man smiled and said, "No only one...and I gave him double his money back!" 

There are many paths we face in life,  however,  there is only one path to Truth. We may want to face Truth as we want it to be, but Truth is not left up to our discretion. It is what it is! Anything else is a form of deception and a desire to escape reality. 

The religious leaders we're facing the hard reality of God in the flesh and He was not the kind of God they had designed. The bias in their hearts was evident which requires us to have a self-examination as we attempt to be an example and share the reality of Jesus Christ and his resurrection to a world that is wandering on so many paths that all lead to one terrible end.  

* The Biased Heart… possesses "self" intentions!

The Biased Heart does not care about right or wrong, just a personal agenda! 

The Biased Heart sets out to prove what it already believes.

Consider:

John 18:19-24 The high priest therefore questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching, Jesus answered him, "I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. "Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; behold, these know what I said." And when He had said this, one of the officers standing by gave Jesus a blow, saying, "Is that the way You answer the high priest?" Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken wrongly, bear witness of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?" Annas, therefore, sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. 

Often when confronted with a reality that we don't like our bias will seek a different path to deal with it and even become aggressive to avoid the truth. 

As we can see the Sanhedrin pivoted and used intimidation tactics

* The Biased Heart sidesteps truth and looks for ways to attack.

“…One of the officers standing by gave Jesus a blow, saying, "Is that the way You answer the high priest?"

As we examine our own hearts – hard questions need to be asked. When we make requests, do they sound more like demands? When we are criticized, do we attack back and point out that person’s failures? Do others see us as a person willing to grow or a bully? 

Jesus modeled the number one quality missing in most of today's discipleship's ... Transparency. This requires courage! 

Look at what Jesus said: "Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; behold, these know what I said."

Allowing others to show you what you look like in the mirror will humble, hurt, and disappoint you…BUT it will also mature, balance, and produce Integrity and Authenticity.

The So What: When you're trying to deal with reality do you focus on it or look for ways to change the subject, get on a different path, or even attack?

Heart Check Part 1 - Who is really on Trial?

We find ourselves in a period of history where a pause is required...so we can refocus and maximize the impact of our life for our Lord. The world has entered an atmosphere where “Truth” is created and proclaimed based on an individual's subjective opinion. More than ever our world needs individuals that will take a stand on objective Truth...whether it is popular or not. This is why an intentional reflection of our heart condition is essential, it allows the Holy Spirit to prepare us to minister to all the souls we encounter in this world, with a clear conscience and possessing hearts free from personal agenda, refusing to twist Truth to have our own way. Then, and only then, will we be ready to live our purpose and destiny as Ambassadors of an Eternal Kingdom endeavoring to influence a temporal world. I was impressed by the Lord to share some meditative thoughts that Easter should induce in our hearts.  

It had been a week of ups and downs…the excitement of riding into Jerusalem, hearing the crowd praise God, just as it was prophesied by Zechariah. The heartbreak as He overlooked Jerusalem and knew she would miss her moment. The joy of being in the city where God's temple stood; the disgust when He saw how they had prostituted that temple! The oneness He felt as He shared that last night with His friends…the loneliness and agony He experienced in the garden.  

Early that morning was a trial…but who really was on trial? Jesus was the apparent one…yet…if we observe closely, we will see that men’s hearts were also on trial. We should examine those heart conditions and then look in the mirror to make sure where our heart is.

 Whenever we are confronted with God's Truth, our hearts are on trial. The reality of the resurrection and its impact on our total being and existence is the greatest Truth to deal with. This Truth changes every aspect of an individual's life! It impacts our purpose, our understanding of destiny, our priorities and brings us to an eternal perspective of our future. We will examine the scriptures to bring light to our own “Heart Condition.”

Passages: John 18:12–24, Mark 15:12–15, John 19:7–12, Luke 23:13–16, Matthew 27:24

 We will look at: The "Biased" Heart; The "Pressured" Heart; The "Unprepared" Heart; and the "Open" Heart. If our heart is open to listening, we need to guard against tactics from the adversary that lead us astray from the path of Faith and Truth. 

On Trial - The Biased Heart…It possesses "self" intentions! 

This is the number one problem when we are endeavoring to discover Truth. It is very obvious to us when we see Politicians or movements of every kind claiming they have the “Truth”, yet they can easily ignore facts because their “truth” is driven by their agenda. You say, “AMEN!” Do you say that to the person in the mirror...when your “truth” ignores certain facts because it would interfere with your agenda? I know I struggle with that…because...if I am honest, I am biased. Everyone has bias and the wisest thing we can do is seek the Lord's help in exposing it so we do not allow it to influence our actions. When our hearts are biased, our intentions are already slanted…and even planned. 

Consider:

John 18:12–13 This happened at night - "the Temple guards arrested Jesus and tied him up...they took him to Annas...the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest at that time.

{1} The trial was illegal!- The Biased Heart does not care about Right vs. 

       Wrong, it is focused on a personal agenda! 

There were so many illegal things about the trial of Jesus, here are just some of them. 

* Trial must be during the day.

* Not a single judge and never privately. 

* Witnesses must agree.

* The Sanhedrin is not to assemble until the hour after the morning offering.

* They shall not judge on the eve of the Sabbath or a Festival

* A guilty verdict and sentence must take at least 2 days – Jesus was found guilty  

  and put to death in one day

Proper Charges were not brought:   

Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar” 

Matthew 22:17–21 Jesus was asked - "Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?... And He said to them..."render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”  

Mark 14:56-59 Many gave false testimony against him, but their testimony did not agree...Yet even on this point, their testimony did not agree.     

{2} The Outcome was already decided - The Biased Heart sets out to prove what it already believes.

John 18:14 Caiaphas was the one who had told the other Jewish leaders, “It’s better that one man should die for the people.” 

Mark 14:5 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death

The So What: When you approach God and His Word, have you already decided what you believe? What does that show you about your heart?

* More on biased heart tomorrow.