{"id":10543,"date":"2020-12-12T15:39:48","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T15:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=10543"},"modified":"2022-01-12T15:25:21","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T15:25:21","slug":"the-open-heart-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=10543","title":{"rendered":"The Open Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Views: 14<\/p>

[Note: \u00a0<\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 2<\/strong> \u00a0page.]<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bible often uses the \u201cheart\u201d and the \u201cmind\u201d of man interchangeably. Scripture often extols the virtue of the open heart\/mind. In Jesus\u2019 Parable of the Sower. He taught that the fruitful heart is one which is \u201chonest and good\u201d (Luke 8:15). Just such \u201csoil\u201d resided in the 3,000 on Pentecost who \u201cgladly received the word\u201d (Acts 2:41). By Paul\u2019s preaching of the Gospel, the Lord opened the heart of Lydia (Acts 16:14). The Berean Jews were noble in that they \u201creceived the word with all readiness of mind\u201d (Acts 17:11).<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, God\u2019s Word ever proscribes the closed heart\/ mind. The Lord applied Isaiah\u2019s condemnation of the \u201cgross heart\u201d (6:9\u201310) to the people of His day (Mat. 13:15). The apostles did not understand the Lord on one occasion because \u201ctheir heart was hardened\u201d (Mark 6:52). The Jews did not understand the types and prophecies of the law concerning Christ because \u201ctheir minds were blinded\u201d (2 Cor. 3:14). Repeatedly the Holy Spirit warned, \u201charden not your hearts\u201d (Heb. 3:8, 15; 4:7). Why is the open heart so virtuous and the hardened heart so dangerous?<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The open heart is hungering for God\u2019s Word (Mat. 5:6), by which alone one can be free from sin (John 8:31\u201332). Such a heart \u201cgladly receives the Word\u201d (Acts 2:41).<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. The open heart is free from prejudice. It will give evidence a fair hearing. This is what the Bereans did. Because of their \u201creadiness of mind,\u201d they \u201csearched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so\u201d (Acts 17:11).<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. The open heart will not only hear the Truth of God\u2019s Word but will act upon it. The \u201chonest and good heart\u201d is fruitful in its obedience (Luke 8:15). When Lydia\u2019s heart was opened, she did the things commanded by Paul, including being baptized into Christ (Acts 16:14\u201315).<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. The closed mind struggles along in the blindness of self-imposed ignorance and in the spiritual trap of self-justified sin and error. Thus the Jews generally had so closed their minds to any kind of king and kingdom other than an earthly one that they rejected Jesus as the Christ.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    A caution: we must never confuse \u201copen-mindedness\u201d with lack of conviction or doctrinal instability (Eph. 4:14). To be \u201cever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth\u201d (2 Tim. 3:7) is to be not \u201copen-minded,\u201d but \u201cempty-headed\u201d!<\/span><\/p>\n

    [Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it appeared in the Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, October 6, 2006].<\/span><\/p>\n

    Attribution:<\/strong> From thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Views: 14[Note: \u00a0This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 2 \u00a0page.] The Bible often uses the \u201cheart\u201d and the \u201cmind\u201d of man interchangeably. Scripture often extols the virtue of the open heart\/mind. In Jesus\u2019 Parable of the Sower. He taught that…<\/p>\n

    Continue Reading… The Open Heart<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[517,227,957,42,507,311],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heart-feelings","category-ignorance","category-ignorance-and-its-consequences","category-obedience","category-prejudice","category-word-of-god","wpcat-517-id","wpcat-227-id","wpcat-957-id","wpcat-42-id","wpcat-507-id","wpcat-311-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10543"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17366,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10543\/revisions\/17366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}