Preventing Heart Loss Series

Mrs. Shank from Olathe, Kansas, talks about a hot summer day when she was sitting near an open window sewing and keeping an eye on her three grandsons playing outside.

“Let's play cops and robbers,” said Mike. “I'll be a robber!” Terry and Melvin wanted the same role, so they needed another person to play.

“What about Grandma?” Terry suggested.

“Nah,” Mike replied, “she can't run fast enough.”

“What can we do to make her mad?” asked Melvin. “Old people can run real fast when they get mad!” (G. Shank, Olathe, Kans. "Kids of the Kingdom," Christian Reader; www.PreachingToday.com).

As we get older, we tend to slow down unless there is some internal motivation to speed us up temporarily. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “Our outer self is wasting away.” But that doesn’t mean you have to give up or be discouraged. For Paul goes on to say, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

So, how do you renew your inner self when the outer self wants to slow down or even give up? How do you keep discouragement at bay? How do you keep from losing heart? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4, 2 Corinthians 4, where the Apostle Paul shows us how.

2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart (ESV).

Skip down to verse 16.

2 Corinthians 4:16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day (ESV).

As you can see, this chapter is about preventing heart loss. So how do you do that even as “the outer self is wasting away?”

2 Corinthians 4:2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God (ESV).

Paul refuses to deceive or distort God’s Word. Instead, He proclaims it openly and without adulteration. Now, that’s what kept Paul going even in the hard times. So, to keep from losing heart…

DECLARE CHRIST PLAINLY AND OPENLY.

Speak the whole truth without distorting or manipulating the facts. Proclaim the gospel, the good news about Jesus, in a straightforward and honest way.

Now, people may not accept the truth, but that is not your fault. So don’t be discouraged when people refuse to believe.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (ESV).

Satan blinds the minds of those who refuse to believe. He covers their eyes, so to speak, so they cannot see the truth.

Saint Ignatius put it this way: “The devil cannot take from the soul the light of faith: he, however, removes the light of consideration; so that the soul may not reflect on what it believes. And as it is of no avail to open the eyes in the dark, so says St. Augustine, ‘it is of no advantage to be near the light if the eyes are closed.’ The eternal maxims, considered in the light of faith, are most clear; yet if we do not open the eyes of the mind by meditating on them, we live as if we were perfectly blind; and so precipitate ourselves into every vice (Ignatius, Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 1; www.PreachingToday.com).

That is to say, people refuse to believe the gospel not because they cannot see, but because they WILL not see. They willfully choose to close their eyes.

The 20th-century ethics philosopher Mortimer Adler (who was baptized quietly at age 81) confessed to rejecting religious commitment for most of his life because, as he said, “It would require a radical change in my way of life, a basic alteration in the direction of my day-to-day choices as well as in the ultimate objectives to be sought or hoped for… The simple truth of the matter is that I did not wish to live up to being a genuinely religious person” (Jim Spiegel, “Unreasonable Doubt,” Christianity Today, 2-10-11; www.PreachingToday.com).

Your responsibility is to tell the truth. It is the Holy Spirit’s responsibility to touch the hearts of people so they want to see the truth (1 Corinthians 2:12-13). When you see it as your responsibility to persuade people, it is easy to get discouraged when people refuse to be persuaded. But when you see it as your responsibility just to proclaim Christ, He encourages you by shining His light in your own heart.