Did not our heart burn within us?
— Luke 24:32
We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus
appears to us, the fires are kindled, we have wonderful visions, then
we have to learn to keep the secret of the burning heart that will go
through anything. It is the dull, bald, dreary, commonplace day, with
commonplace duties and people, that kills the burning heart unless we
have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.
Much of our distress as Christians comes not because of sin, but
because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance,
the only test as to whether we ought to allow an emotion to have its
way is to see what the outcome of the emotion will be. Push it to its
logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something God would
condemn, allow it no more way. But if it be an emotion kindled by the
Spirit of God and you do not let that emotion have its right issue in
your life, it will react on a lower level. That is the way
sentimentalists are made. The higher the emotion is, the deeper the
degradation will be, if it is not worked out on its proper level. If
the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many things inevitable as
possible, let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay on
the mount of transfiguration, but we must obey the light we received
there; we must act it out. When God gives a vision, transact business
on that line, no matter what it costs.
“We cannot kindle when we will
The fire which in the heart resides,
The spirit bloweth and is still,
In mystery our soul abides;
But tasks in hours of insight will’d
Can be through hours of gloom fulfill’d.”
But if it be an emotion kindled by the
Spirit of God and you do not let that emotion have its right issue in
your life, it will react on a lower level.
The higher the emotion is, the deeper the
degradation will be, if it is not worked out on its proper level. If
the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many things inevitable as
possible, let the consequences be what they will.
When God gives a vision, transact business
on that line, no matter what it costs.
Much of our distress as Christians comes not because of sin, but
because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance,
the only test as to whether we ought to allow an emotion to have its
way is to see what the outcome of the emotion will be. Push it to its
logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something God would
condemn, allow it no more way.