joh 14v01 Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
"LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED"
John 14:1
These are words of love and concern. They are the gentle words of our Faithful Friend. But they are words of reproof. Our Lord is telling us that believing hearts ought never be anxious, fearful, and worried. He would have us cast our care upon him and trust him to provide for us and protect us in all things (I Pet. 5:6-7). When our hearts are troubled there is trouble in our hearts. I know that whenever my heart is troubled with worry, anxiety, and fear my trouble can be traced to some evil thing in my heart.
PRIDE is a terrible
source of heart trouble. It is pride that causes us to rebel against God's
providence. Most of our sorrows arise from within. "When self is conquered,
sorrow is to a great extent banished from the human heart" (Spurgeon). We
will find no comfort for our hearts until our pride is broken and our hearts
are subdued (Job
UNBELIEF is the root of
all heart trouble. Worry, anxiety, and fear are the fruits of unbelief. If I
believe God there is nothing I can reasonably fear, worry about, or anxiously
consider (Matt.
COVETOUSNESS is a real,
though unacknowledged, cause of heart trouble. Our hearts are troubled because
we want God to do what he has not done or give what he has not given. That is
covetousness (Phil.
ENVY, the desire of another person's ease, wealth, or position causes a believer's heart great trouble (Ps. 73:1-3). Envy is the most loathsome, vicious child pride ever sired. As a moth eats cloth, so envy eats a man. It is the most cruel, destructive passion of the human heart.
SELF-PITY is the sum of all these evils.
Usually troubled hearts are peevish, self-willed, self-pitying hearts. The
Spirit of Christ is humility, not pride; faith, not unbelief; contentment, not
covetous; peace, not envy; self-denial, not self-pity. If you would be free of
heart trouble, believe Christ and walk in the Spirit of Christ.