Note -- Today's post is a guest post from a good friend of mine, Tim Adams. He is the founder of Timato Productions which you can look at if you click here. I hope that you enjoy his post "The Good Heart." And without further ado, Tim Adams.

Do you have a good heart? Yes or no? What makes you answer the way you did? Those of us who have accepted Christ have good hearts-really! It's true! Yeah, I know about the verse that says "The heart is deceitful above all else," and I'll address that in a minute.

Think of it this way-can evil exist in the presence of God? Of course not-it must leave, flee, run away, abandon it's former property. Ok, so taking that principle, apply it to your heart. If we've invited God into our hearts, how can evil exist there? And taking it further, if evil doesn't exist in our hearts, what is it about our hearts that make them bad? How can they be bad if God lives there?

Now, one could argue that there is a part of the heart called the Flesh and I can see what they mean. Paul says in Acts 7:15 "I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can't help myself, because it is the sin inside me that makes me do these evil things." Paul draws an interesting, and important, distinction between himself and the sin that resides inside him in the form of the Flesh, or our sinful nature. And what do you suppose he meant when he talked about the "part of himself" that wants to do right? I propose he means his heart.

You see, knowing you have a good heart is incredibly important in that it helps to fight off the attacks of the devil, which nearly always come at the level of your identity. If I were to ask you who you are, how would you answer? Would you tell me about yourself, your likes, dislikes, your belief system, what you do for a living? Ask yourself what you associate your identity with. For adults, we often tie who we are to what we do for a living. When people introduce themselves, they are almost always asked, "What do you do?" We use the answer to that question to create an immediate judgement of that person. A plumber isn't nearly as classy as an investment banker, or a pilot. The problem is that people get so wrapped up in what they do for work that when someone makes a negative comment on that industry or line of work, the person takes it personally. Your identity is so much LARGER than just a job, just like calling, but that discussion is for another time.

Here's a few questions for you to ask yourself:
What words would you use to describe yourself?

What words do you think others would use to describe you?

What words do you fear others would use to describe you?

Finally, what words would God use to describe you?

Compare your lists. Were all your words negative? Were your first three lists negative and the fourth list positive? This will tell you a great deal about how your view God...and how that view reflects how you perceive God views you. There really are two main reactions to this little exercise:
1. Your lists were all negative which speaks to a view of God as a mighty entity that is disappointed with me for my inability to "measure up" to his perfect standard. How could God like me since he knows all of the bad things I do that nobody else knows.

2. Your lists included a mix of positive and negative words, but God's list was mostly positive. This speaks to a view of God as a loving father-figure and one that spreads his compassion and mercy over me like a warm blanket and I need not worry about "measuring up" because his blood covers it all.

Did you find yourself in one of those categories? It's an over-simplification, to be sure, but chances are you fit somewhere in there. This is such an incredibly broad subject, that one cannot possibly cover it all in a blog post, but I hope that this has given you some food for thought; made you ask questions you haven't asked yourself before, and ultimately, convinced you that as a son or daughter of God, you were made with certain traits of the Almighty Father and that one of the most important characteristics he has bestowed is a good heart.

Feel free to contact me with comments, suggestions, thoughts, etc. at: timato1@gmail.com

Pastor Nick's Note -- Also, please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, thoughts, etc... here.