Home Is Where the Heart Is . . . Exposed!

The home can be a remarkable place. It is where we experience life’s most intimate moments, share uncontrolled laughter over the most comedic events, endure seasons of deepest sorrow, celebrate our highest achievements, and twiddle our thumbs in absolute boredom – all of this with those we love most.

Our homes are usually where we feel most comfortable and relaxed, where we’re able to unwind and catch our breath.  They’re where we let our guard down and make ourselves vulnerable.  There are things we do at home which we don’t usually do elsewhere, and appropriately so.  We might wear old, worn-out clothing around the house that we’d never sport before the general public, but that’s not all we confine to the home and conceal from the public.  There are also thoughts, attitudes, actions, words, and habits that are only fully revealed in the comfort of our own home.  For this reason I’m arguing that a home is a remarkable place because it has the unique ability to expose what is truly in our hearts, whether that be love, anger, lust, humility, or whatever.

Let’s consider in greater detail how the home exposes what is truly in our hearts so that we’re better equipped to recognize our sin, run to the Cross, and repent of it instead of writing it off as something less serious.

First, remember what Jesus says about the source of ALL our behavior, namely, that if flows out of our hearts, that is, it is the outward expression of who we really are on the inside: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure [of the heart] produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). This principle is important because it forces us to recognize that, although we are influenced by our environment and circumstances, our actions are the direct result of what is in our heart.

Let this truth be the lens through which you view all that goes on in your home. Your attitude toward food, sleep, and relaxation in your home reveal your heart. Your habits with TV and Internet both in content and quantity of time spent, disclose what is in your heart. Whether or not your hobbies around the house and your use of free time crowd out time for fellowship with God through Scripture and prayer unveils the values of your heart. In the context of our homes we see if we have a heart for the lost, if we’re storing up treasures in heaven, if our service to others in public is matched by service to others in private.

Furthermore, consider how James elaborates on this truth in the context of conflict.  James says that the source of all interpersonal conflict is our hearts.  More specifically he says it is our passions and pleasures, which come from our hearts, that cause quarrels and fights (see James 4:1).

Do you ever experience conflict in your home?  I know, dumb question! Did you ever stop to think that God uses that conflict to expose what is truly in your heart? Think about it for a moment. After a long day’s work you probably desire to enjoy a relaxing, stress-free evening – sounds reasonable.  But what happens when a spouse or child interferes with your plans by way of requesting your assistance on a project, asking for help with homework, or by requiring your intervention due to sibling warfare? Does your heart treasure your relaxation such that you get demonstrably angry with whomever jeopardizes your enjoyment of it, or do you treasure Christ such that you’ll continue to humbly and selflessly serve Him in your home even when temporal pleasures are withheld?

Watch over your heart in that remarkable place called “home,” for whether in comfort or in conflict home is where the heart is exposed!

Post Election Thoughts

I have mixed thoughts and feelings today after staying up late watching the election results and I'm sure many of you have the same. I voted for John McCain because of his wisdom in foreign affairs - a pretty important topic given the fact that our troups are in Afghanistan and Iraq and the reality of global connectivity at almost every level among nations.

Another reason that I voted for John McCain is because of his Pro-Life postion (Barack Obama is radically Pro-Choice). Abortion is a dark evil in our land and this issue should be a deciding factor for Christians going to the polls. I also think of the Supreme Court Judges soon to retire which Barack will be able to replace with people with his ideology. This concerns me a great deal.

On the other hand, I cannot help smiling with joy that an Africa-American is going to be president of the United States when 45 years ago Barak Obama would have had to sit in the back of public transit, drink water from a different fountain, and be excluded from certain establishments. This moment in history has given hope to an oppressed people, people whose dreams have been suffocated for so many years. The sybolism of this moment is huge for them and for our country as illustrated in Barack's speech when he mentioned the 106 year old African-American woman who voted. When she was born, stories of the Civil War were still told by eyewitnesses, a woman could not vote and certainly not a black woman. This change is monumental and to be celebrated.

So, I'm sorrowful and rejoicing. Is that possible? I think so because we live in a fallen world. I am ultimately a citizen of heaven waiting for the true King to arrive to take me to a place where righteousness rules and the tension no longer exists. Until then we work and pray...

Lessons Learned from D. L. Moody, pt. 4

Embrace your modest talent and use it!

One of most encouraging things reading about D. L. Moody is his ordinariness. He was a man of modest talent but his great faith and passion for souls pushed him into greater places of influence and usefulness.

Early in his SS ministry, he received an opportunity to speak and afterwards one of the deacons assured him that he would, in his opinion, serve God best by keeping still! “Another critic, who commended his zeal in filling the pews he had hired in Plymouth Church, suggested that he should realize the limitations of his vocation and not attempt to speak in public. ‘You make too many mistakes in grammar,’ the man complained.” He paused and looked at the man searchingly, adding with his own irresistible manner: “Look here, friend, you’ve got grammar enough – what are you doing with it for the master?”[1]

It was true, Moody did not have much of an education under his belt. His speech was riddled with grammatical mistakes – “Moodyisms” as they were called. Sometimes the press would butcher him over it but he would continue in what he was called to do, and in the end they could not argue with his genuineness. Lord Shaftesbury, the Lord Chancellor of England said to him, “The simplicity of that man’s preaching, the clear manner in which he sets forth salvation by Christ, is to me the most striking and most delightful thing I ever knew in my life.”[2]

During one of the evangelistic campaigns in England, the Pall Mall Gazette wrote: “Moody and Sankey are not, it is true, graduates of any university. They are men of the people, speaking the language and using he methods not of the refined, but of the generality. Yet they have probably left a deeper impression of their individuality upon one great section of English men and English women that any other persons who could be named.”[3]

[1] William R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody, (Sword of the Lord Publishers: Murfreesboro, TN; 1900), p. 61.
[2] Ibid., 241.
[3] Ibid., 304.

Lessons Learned from D. L. Moody, pt. 3

By all means, reach people!

Moody never tampered with the timeless message of the gospel but he was an innovator and a fresh thinker when it came to reaching people. In his early Sunday School work, Moody bought a Indian pony known as his missionary horse. The horse was of special enjoyment with the children and aided him in securing attendance. He also kept his pockets full of oranges, candy, or something sweet.

F. B. Meyer, the great English preacher, said of Moody: “The first characteristic of Mr. Moody’s that struck me was that he was so absolutely unconventional and natural. That a piece of work had generally been done after a certain method would probably be the reason why he would set about it in some fresh and unexpected way. That the new method startled people was the greater reason for continuing with it, if only it drew them to the Gospel. But there was never the slightest approach to irreverence, fanaticism, or extravagance; everything was in perfect accord with a rare common sense, a directness of method, a simplicity and transparency of aim, which were as attractive as them were fruitful in result.”[1]


[1] William R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody, (Sword of the Lord Publishers: Murfreesboro, TN; 1900), p. 158.

Lessons Learned from D. L. Moody, pt. 2

Press men into the Kingdom!

Dr. H. C. Mabie writes: "I first met Mr. Moody in the fall of 1863, in Chicago…As we passed in prayer meeting for the YMCA there was a stocky, bustling, Simon Peter sort of a man standing at the door and shaking hands with all who entered. He spoke an earnest word to each. At the close of the meeting his same man remained to speak and pray with an inquirer or two who had shown signs of interest during the meeting. This honest man was Mr. Moody, and it made an impression upon me for life. I had never before seen a layman so making it his business to press men into the Kingdom as he seemed to be doing. I had learned to expect that of ministers, but I had never seen a layman so dead in earnest; but I like it.”[1]

“There is nothing novel in the doctrine Mr. Moody proclaims. It is the old gospel…yet always fresh and young as the living fountain or the morning sun. It is spoken with most impressive directness, not as by a man half convinced and who seems always to feel that a skeptic is looking over his shoulder, but with a certainty of the truth of what he says, as if, …he did not speak the very stones would cry out.”[2]

“He preaches as if there never was to be another meeting, and as if sinners might never hear the Gospel sound again: these appeals to decide now are most impressive.”[3]

Moody was a possessed man when it came to the gospel preaching. When he talked about eternal realities, they were fixed in his mind as firm as the ground underneath him. Because of it, he pressed Christ upon people with great earnestness so as to convince the hearer of his or her need. The Chicago fires of 1871 had a tremendous impact on him. On Oct. 8th he preached to the largest crowd he had ever preached to up until then. After finishing his sermon, he urged the crowd to turn the text over in their minds during the week, and next Sunday he would continue and give them an opportunity to embrace Christ. That night Chicago was lit ablaze and many of those in the audience were swept into eternity. Moody was heartbroken over the fact that he never gave them an opportunity to respond. In Moody’s own words, “I have asked God many times to forgive me for telling people that night to take a week to think it over, and if he spares my life, I will never do it again…I want to tell you of one lesson I learned that night which I have never forgotten, and that is, when I preach, to press Chris upon the people then and there, and try to bring them to a decision on the spot.”[4]

Though I think Moody did not have a proper understanding of the doctrines of grace, I believe he got it right in this fiery urgency that weighted his soul when sharing the gospel. I think that is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he said in 2 Cor. 5:11, “Knowing the fear fo he Lord, we persuade others.” It happens when the realities are truly pressed upon us.

[1] William R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody, (Sword of the Lord Publishers: Murfreesboro, TN; 1900), 79.
[2] Ibid., 184.
[3] Ibid., 168
[4] Ibid., 145-46.

Lessons Learned from D. L. Moody

Consecrate Yourself for God’s work

During his first trip to England while Moody was recovering from a spiritual depression and fatigue, he heard these words, “The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. ‘He said a man,’ thought Moody; ‘he did not say a great man, nor a learned man, nor a rich man, nor a wise man, nor a eloquent man, nor a smart man, but simply a man. I am a man, and it lies with the man himself whether he will or will not make that entire and full consecration. I will try my utmost to be that man.”[1]

“It has been noted that Moody frequently determined upon a course that did not appear wise to his friends. This meant that their perspective was obscured by what appeared to be insurmountable obstacles. Such obstructions never obscured Mr. Moody’s vision, for if once he thought an object worth attaining, he undertook its achievement with an enthusiasm and vigor equaled only by his determined perseverance. It was this last trait that contributed very largely to his success. Many of this enterprises would have been abandoned by a less courageous and persistent character.”[2]

One evangelist of San Jose` describes an experience with Moody that forever changed his life: “One day the leader assigned did not get there in time, and Mr. Moody came to me, requesting that I take charge. I had just arrived from a journey, hot and dusty. ‘Mr. Moody’, I said, ‘I am just in from a long absence and am not presentable. Excuse me, please, and at some other time I will lead the meeting.’ I shall never forget the incident, for it was the turning point in my life. ‘I thought you were a Christ soldier,’ he said, and added, ‘Go forward and we will pray for you.’ As soon as the meeting was over he came again and thanked me. You did well, he said. But it is all wrong this holding back! Your duty is clear; keep in front. Be a minute man.!”[3]


[1] William R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody, (Sword of the Lord Publishers: Murfreesboro, TN; 1900), 134.
[2] Ibid., 507
[3] Ibid., 120.

D. L. Moody the Evangelist

D. L. Moody was born in 1837 and died in 1899. He was the most influential Christian man in late 19th century to the extent that some would give him the title, Mr. Revivalist or greater still, Mr. Protestant. Understand that he lived at the time of great preachers and the golden age of preaching. Moody was not a pastor but an evangelist. The influence that he had during his life was through an itinerate ministry from city to city for the most part. During those years, however, his oldest son estimated that 1 million souls were saved through his preaching. In addition, he established three schools, Moody Bible Institute was one of them, a publishing business, and Christian conferences held yearly. As a layman, he inspired thousands of preachers to win souls and hold revival services. Many of us grew up in the twilight of revival meetings that churches held yearly as a method of calling the church to holiness and unbelievers to Jesus.

“At Moody’s funeral, Theodore Cuyler estimated that at times Moody spoke to 40,000 or 50,000 people a week, an estimate not at all unreasonable in view of the fact that some single services had 10-20 thousand in the audience. This evidence would seem to indicate that A.T. Pierson’s calculation that Moody brought the claims of Christ by voice and pen to the attention of 100 million people, if anything, errs on the conservative side.”[1]


[1] Stanley N. Gundry, Love them In, (Moody Press of Chicago: 1976, 1999), p. 12.