Where is the Heart

6.2.2011

6 Do not eat the food of a stingy man, do not crave his delicacies; 7 for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. NIV

What kind of people are we? I don’t mean are we white or black, red or yellow; I mean, what do we value? In this proverb Solomon taught that a stingy man is so because that’s all he can think about – it’s the sum total of his worldview. The King James renders this: Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. (Pr 23:6-7) As he thinketh in his heart – he ain’t thinking about his guest – he’s thinking about his money. So I ask again, what kind of people are we?

The last three days seem to have been a discussion about the heart – what it produces, what kind of heart it is, and again today, where it is. And all of these combined pretty much spell out who we are; they’re the sum on the balance sheet of who we really are…

What causes stinginess? I could be wrong but it might spring from fear – a person might be deeply afraid of not having enough (whatever that is) and clinging to every little bit they have. It could be they don’t trust people and are afraid someone’s going to rip them off. It could be that they love what money does for them and they don’t like giving it away. Who knows? I think fear is a part of it.

The thing that causes me to wonder is the part of the verse that says, but his heart is not with [you]. To which I ask, “Well if it ain’t with me, then where it!?” If someone is always only thinking about the cost (to him, NIV) then he isn’t thinking about whoever the guest is except that the guest, in his heart, is nothing more than a rodent eating away at his substance… profits… retirement… 401K… What kind of a heart is that; and who wants his food anyway if that’s how he really thinks?

As a man thinks in his heart – so is he – he is what he thinks; and he is what his thinking makes him do. Jesus said this: For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts... (Mk 7:21 NIV) I think Jesus was telling us that what we think about, and how we think, is how we direct our actions.

Jesus,
Take control Lord! Without You, I’m sunk! May I, in You, think rightly and deal generously – help me God!