Nearly half of all heart attacks may have absolutely no symptoms whatsoever. No pain, no shortness of breath, no tingling radiating down the left arm. Nothing. Nothing but deadly heart damage, that is. These silent heart attacks triple the risk of death from heart disease, primarily because the people who’ve had them are totally unaware.
But there’s an even worse situation that can affect your heart and you’d never know about that either! And no medical test can find it.
Before we talk about THAT heart condition, let me welcome you to “Mornings with Bishop Robert,” thanks for joining me. My goal is to introduce people to the Jesus they never knew, and help them get to know Him and His word personally – and better ! If our time together today impacts YOUR heart, then let me invite you to like, subscribe and share it with a friend!
Circulation, the medical journal of the American Heart Association, says that 45 percent of all heart attacks are silent. They’re as bad as heart attacks with warning signs or symptoms, but because patients don’t know they had a heart attack, they don’t receive the treatment they need to prevent another one. The victim just continues on their way unaware.
Today’s verse says A PERSON MAY THINK THEIR OWN WAYS ARE RIGHT, BUT THE LORD WEIGHS THE HEART.
Often, a doctor running an EKG as part of a medical exam will accidentally discover that the patient had a silent heart attack. But there’s no medical test that can show us the spiritual condition of our heart. The problem is that, for the most part, we think we have a wonderful heart. Many people believe their good choices outweigh their bad ones, and that they live a pretty good life. If they think about God at all, they tell themselves He will never judge a person for their sins. Or they compare themselves with other people, folks they see as “worse” than themselves; as if God grades on a curve.
When Diana Valencia was arrested in El Paso Texas on drug charges, there was little doubt regarding her guilt. Two kilos of cocaine is difficult to explain away as an innocent mistake. So she and her sister decided to bribe the presiding judge of the El Paso County Criminal Court, Judge Manuel Barraza, with money and sexual favors. The plan might have worked, since the judge was willing; but the FBI was already investigating Judge Barraza and ended up taping his negotiations. Valencia ended up facing multiple felony charges in addition to her drug trafficking rap.
Like Valencia, our heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; so we end up fooling ourselves. Like someone who’s suffered a silent heart attack, we carry on unaware of the need to deal with a heart issue that’s killing us. Or worse, we think the judge will let us off the hook for one reason or another. People’s hearts grow dull. With their ears they can barely hear, so they ignore the warnings being given. They have closed their eyes and won’t look at the world spinning apart in front of them. Out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. And many people think it’s OK, but it is killing them silently.
A PERSON MAY THINK THEIR OWN WAYS ARE RIGHT, BUT THE LORD WEIGHS THE HEART
If they would see with their eyes and hear with their ears and believe with their heart and turn to God, He would heal them. When we love the Lord our God with all our heart He changes our dark heart and fills it with the light of His grace. His is the ultimate cardiac rehab program. He says, “I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you.” He does it so He can establish your hearts blameless in holiness before God. That’s the kind of heart that God wants to give us.
So if your heart isn’t right with God this morning, don’t think that you’re OK just because you’ve not had any symptoms yet. You can pray the prayer that King David did —
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
