Beware the Frozen Heart

photo by Rachel Ramsdell Photography

Last week I talked about the heart being pleasing to God.
May the words if my mouth and the mediations of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.  Psalm.19:14

And how God is more concerned with our heart than our outward appearance.
The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

When I was thinking about the condition of the heart a song from the animated Disney movie Frozen came to mind...and no,  not Let It Go!

Beware the Frozen Heart 
Born of cold and winter air
And mountain rain combining
This icy force both foul and fair
Has a frozen heart worth mining

Cut through the heart, cold and clear
Strike for love and strike for fear
See the beauty sharp and sheer
Split the ice apart
And break the frozen heart

Beautiful, powerful, dangerous, cold
Ice has a magic can't be controlled
Stronger than one, stronger than ten
Stronger than a hundred men

Born of cold and winter air
And mountain rain combining
This icy force both foul and fair
Has a frozen heart worth mining

Cut through the heart, cold and clear
Strike for love and strike for fear
There's beauty and there's danger here
Split the ice apart
Beware the frozen heart

(Music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)

 Now I am going to take some liberties...as the song writers, I am certain, had NO spiritual message wrapped up in these lyrics.

But for me and my "funny" brain...
We must "beware the frozen heart."  A heart that becomes hardened with bitterness, anger, resentment, deceit, self righteousness, jealousy, fear, worry.
"powerful, dangerous, cold"  that is what these things are.  They can be very powerful....powerful enough to destroy relationships, powerful enough to change the course of our lives.  So powerful that we justify letting them stay in our heart...."I was hurt so I can be angry and bitter."  "I worked as hard as that person did yet they get the reward, the promotion."  I don't have to be honest, it would just cause turmoil and pain...and who is it hurting if I keep this secret." "I know I am right, and they are just being ridiculous."  
And as we continue to justify the unChrist like attitudes they will continue to make our hearts hard, and frozen.

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

    there is no one who understands;

    there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”

“Their throats are open graves;

    their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

    “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

   ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.”

   “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.  Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—  he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Romans 3:9-26

I know that is a big chunk of scripture but I couldn't find a place to stop....it all was "IT"

We can not be righteous, not one of us, we can not be acceptable or pleasing to God, our hearts are frozen!  

and the frozen heart may be strong.....

"Stronger than one, stronger than ten

Stronger than a hundred men"

EXCEPT!   NOT stronger than THE ONE! CHRIST!

Through Chrsit's blood and death on the cross He cuts through the frozen heart!  

He strikes with love!  love for us!

We need to be diligent and careful, not to let even a shard of that frozenness start to grow....

Otherwise it will spread as fast as frost on a window pane!  

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32

We are all going to have times when the pieces of ice are there and seem to want to grow, but remember, through Him we have the power to "split the ice apart"

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5: 8-11

Can I get another AMEN!!!!
My prayer for you is that you are ever aware of those "shards" in your heart and that you allow God to melt them away!