The Reason for God

I am reading a heavy duty book called the Reason for God by Timothy Keller.  I have to savor and let each part sink in before I go on to more pages.  He gives much to think and ponder concerning one's belief in the Bible, creation,  working out for ourselves who we are as believers and why we believe what  what we have been taught through our lives. Like eating a steak dinner, savoring every juicy bite, and then digesting it slowly. Keller includes cheesecake, and salad, wonderful tidbits, to chew on....like: " if we let our unexamined beliefs undermine our confidence in the Bible, the cost may be greater than we think"   (Keller, page 117)  It is taking a long time to finish this book, but it just gets better and better, and challenges my thinking, and increases my desire to stay true. 

Decluttering our Hearts.... Filled with God's Love

Today, I read in Ephesians 3:17 (NLT)  that Pauls prays that  Christ would be more and more at home in our  hearts as we trust Him. King James uses the word "dwell".  

 What must we do for this to happen?  Declutter.  Get rid of all the stuff that would make Christ uncomfortable.  "Stuff "that would keep Him from feeling at home in our heart/life.   Like quarreling, selfshiness, jealousy, lustful pleasure, judging, pride. (Gal 5:19,21) ......all those items which not only displease our heavenly Father, but don't do us any good, either.  Then dust off the tables and shelves and place better items there , like love, joy, peace, longsuffering.....
(Gal. 5:22,23)
But there is more ......when Christ is at home in our hearts, dwells in our hearts..... our roots will go down deep into God's marvelous love, and we have the power to understand how wide, how long, how high and how deep God's love really is.  Even though it is so great that we can never understand it, we can be filled with the fullness of life and power from God and begin to experience it.   (Ephesians 3:17-19) 
paraphrased by RJR