My Heart... Christ's Home?

by Karla Morton

The beginning

Not long after I began to follow Jesus, I read a brief pamphlet called, “My Heart Christ’s Home”. As I refreshed my memory about this pamphlet, I found that it was written by Presbyterian minister, author, and professor Robert Boyd Munger. In it the author/storyteller speaks of inviting Jesus into his heart and taking Jesus on a tour of his home that includes the library, the drawing room, a messy (stinky) closet, the dining room and at the end the author gives over the deed of the home to Jesus. Throughout the telling of the story, scripture is used and Jesus helps the storyteller make changes to his life based on scriptures used and the room that is described.

I read this as a college freshman and it made an deep impact on me. It was a straightforward way of making clear the call to be a disciple of Jesus and to have his life and teachings form me as his follower. Over the years I have understood that having Christ as Lord of my life means that I allow Jesus, through my understanding of him in the Gospels, especially through the lens of Matthew 5 – 7 (the Sermon on the Mount), to transform me more into his likeness.

While walking mika

A few weeks ago as I was walking Mika, our beautiful Aussie/Border Collie, I saw a heart decal on a car in my neighborhood. On closer inspection, I saw that the heart was created by white semi-automatic rifles. My immediate thought was, “With all those rifles in their heart, there’s no room for Jesus!” This thought reminded me of the old pamphlet by Professor Munger.

Maybe the person who drives that car isn’t a Christ follower or doesn’t identify as a Christian. I don’t know. And, as my husband Craig said to me, “They probably see it as love - to be ready to protect/defend their family.” Either way, to me, there’s no room for true love or love of Christ if you’re willing to put a decal of guns in the shape of a heart on your car (or somewhere else).

What does jesus say?

Why might I think that? Jesus was asked by religious leaders what is the greatest commandment, we see his answer in Mark 12:28-31 and Matthew 22:34-40. Jesus tells these leaders that the first is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind [and all your strength – in Mark]. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22, NRSV) In ancient thought, especially among the Hebrews, the heart was considered the place where one’s thoughts originate, and in ancient Egypt it was thought to be the home of one’s thoughts and soul. We now think of the heart as the place where love is seated.

If I love God with my whole self, and I love my neighbor as myself, there is no room for loving guns, material things, worldly things because I am filling my heart with Jesus and his love. My goal is to love God fully, wholeheartedly, and to love my neighbor as myself. Loving God and loving others means that I am not allowing a gun (or other things) to fill my heart because I’ve made room for Jesus, his life, his words, his teachings in my heart. If I’m focused on guns and “things”, then I am focusing on my worries and anxieties rather than allowing Jesus to rule in my heart.

let’s be explicit

In his most explicit teaching, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break , in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21, NRSV, emphasis mine)

Later in the same chapter, verses 25-27 and 32b-34a, Jesus teaches us, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? … and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. …”

All this worry about bearing arms, about protecting what’s mine, in the light of Jesus, is shown to be worthless. Jesus comes to us, he invites us to learn from him. When I do that, I find that if I want him in my life, I must be willing to be transformed and allow the values, and the love, of Jesus to form me and mold me. I must seek these kingdom values first, otherwise, I am being anxious and not allowing my heart to be Christ’s home, as Dr. Munger wrote over 50 years ago.

the end… well, almost

Jesus asks you as well, may I come in and live in your life/heart? Learn from me. I’ll talk more about that the next time, but for now, is Christ fully in your life?

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash