tucked away at the end of the fourteenth chapter of John. He is preparing his closest friends (and soon-to-be-successors) for his departure. They still don’t believe or don’t want to believe he’s leaving. Here is what Jesus says to them (and to us):
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)
Wait—do not let your heart be troubled? I thought to myself, We have a choice? We let our hearts be troubled? I’ve always assumed it was the other way around—that trouble strikes in some form or other, and our hearts simply respond by being troubled. I’ll bet this is how you look at it, too. Trouble descends upon you: your house is robbed, your daughter gets pregnant, you lose your job. In that moment are you thinking, This doesn’t have to take me out. I’m not going to let my heart be troubled . No way. We think “troubled heart” is unavoidable, appropriate even. But Jesus is talking about his coming torture, his death, and, following that, his departure from them. On a scale of personal crises, this is a ten. Yet he says, don’t let your hearts be troubled.
Friends, this is important.
You have a say in what your heart gives way to.
How much truer this is when it comes to choosing goodness. You have a say in what your heart gives way to. Having been struck with the idea that it is up to me whether I let my heart be troubled or not, I started flipping through other passages talking about what we do with our inner life, the life of our heart. I was stunned at the number of scriptures urging us to shepherd the life of our heart:
Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice. (Proverbs 24:17)
And I thought, Dang—we love to rejoice. We don’t get to indulge this?
Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. (Psalm 62:10)
But how subtle this is; when you get a good payday or a windfall, doesn’t something in you say, Now we’re okay; now we’re gonna be fine. This is wrong?
Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. Do not let your heart turn to [the seductress’s] ways or stray into her paths. (Proverbs 7:24–25)
Okay, fellas, this is huge : I know beauty is powerful, I know it rings all kinds of bells inside you. But you can choose not to let it in. You don’t have to let lust into your heart. It is not inevitable.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)
I repeat this because most of you think “troubled heart” equals “natural and human response to my world.” Apparently not. You actually have a say in worry, fear, anxiety, and their cousins. This is huge because these things almost always lead to some kind of false comforte r/a ddiction /u nbelief /me dication /sc rambling .
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. (Hebrews 4:7)
As in right now: something in you doesn’t like the idea of having to shepherd your heart. Life is easier, so we think, when we just “let” ourselves react to life.
The point I want to make is this: God seems to think we have a choice. The Big Lie of sin is that it is inevitable . This feels especially true with habitual sins. When that anger sweeps over you, when that fear/lust/anxiety/rage/envy/deceitfulness/idolatry comes rushing in, it feels like it is going to have its way. And as soon as you make that agreement— this is inevitable —you are going to fall prey to it. But it is not inevitable. Not necessarily. Now we have an option , because of all Christ has done for us, and because God is at work within us. What I love about these passages is the assumption that we can shepherd our hearts; we can choose what we let in and what we don’t let in; we can choose what we “go with” and what we don’t “go with.”
The notion that the salvation of Jesus is a salvation from the consequences of our sins is a false, mean, low notion. The salvation of Christ is a salvation from the smallest tendency or leaning to
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)
Wait—do not let your heart be troubled? I thought to myself, We have a choice? We let our hearts be troubled? I’ve always assumed it was the other way around—that trouble strikes in some form or other, and our hearts simply respond by being troubled. I’ll bet this is how you look at it, too. Trouble descends upon you: your house is robbed, your daughter gets pregnant, you lose your job. In that moment are you thinking, This doesn’t have to take me out. I’m not going to let my heart be troubled . No way. We think “troubled heart” is unavoidable, appropriate even. But Jesus is talking about his coming torture, his death, and, following that, his departure from them. On a scale of personal crises, this is a ten. Yet he says, don’t let your hearts be troubled.
Friends, this is important.
You have a say in what your heart gives way to.
How much truer this is when it comes to choosing goodness. You have a say in what your heart gives way to. Having been struck with the idea that it is up to me whether I let my heart be troubled or not, I started flipping through other passages talking about what we do with our inner life, the life of our heart. I was stunned at the number of scriptures urging us to shepherd the life of our heart:
Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice. (Proverbs 24:17)
And I thought, Dang—we love to rejoice. We don’t get to indulge this?
Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. (Psalm 62:10)
But how subtle this is; when you get a good payday or a windfall, doesn’t something in you say, Now we’re okay; now we’re gonna be fine. This is wrong?
Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. Do not let your heart turn to [the seductress’s] ways or stray into her paths. (Proverbs 7:24–25)
Okay, fellas, this is huge : I know beauty is powerful, I know it rings all kinds of bells inside you. But you can choose not to let it in. You don’t have to let lust into your heart. It is not inevitable.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)
I repeat this because most of you think “troubled heart” equals “natural and human response to my world.” Apparently not. You actually have a say in worry, fear, anxiety, and their cousins. This is huge because these things almost always lead to some kind of false comforte r/a ddiction /u nbelief /me dication /sc rambling .
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. (Hebrews 4:7)
As in right now: something in you doesn’t like the idea of having to shepherd your heart. Life is easier, so we think, when we just “let” ourselves react to life.
The point I want to make is this: God seems to think we have a choice. The Big Lie of sin is that it is inevitable . This feels especially true with habitual sins. When that anger sweeps over you, when that fear/lust/anxiety/rage/envy/deceitfulness/idolatry comes rushing in, it feels like it is going to have its way. And as soon as you make that agreement— this is inevitable —you are going to fall prey to it. But it is not inevitable. Not necessarily. Now we have an option , because of all Christ has done for us, and because God is at work within us. What I love about these passages is the assumption that we can shepherd our hearts; we can choose what we let in and what we don’t let in; we can choose what we “go with” and what we don’t “go with.”
The notion that the salvation of Jesus is a salvation from the consequences of our sins is a false, mean, low notion. The salvation of Christ is a salvation from the smallest tendency or leaning to
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