The Heart Before the Course
Living a good life. Hoping to get into heaven because I …
Treat others well
Go to church
Take communion
Pay my dues
Give to charity
Haven’t killed, haven’t committed adultery, stolen, haven’t been mean to my parents, didn’t lie (much) …
Somehow or another, good works makes sense … doesn’t it? God will look at the life I’ve lived and say, “Come on into my heaven.” Is this really true?
This is like Henry David Thoreau’s quote, putting “The cart before the horse.” Thoreau’s context: his observation of how the Indians had built their domiciles and created their living spaces.
The cart before the horse is neither beautiful nor useful. Before we can adorn our houses with beautiful objects the walls must be stripped, and our lives must be stripped, and beautiful housekeeping and beautiful living be laid for a foundation …[i]
His writings suggest a creation of “heaven on earth.” Another theme, “The Heart Before the Course,” comes from author Abbey Von Gorhen in her writing project to:
Explore the weight we feel in living and moving and having our being in this world, while perhaps being made for (also) other worlds. [iii]
Do we get it wrong and attempt to put the course—the good works—ahead of giving our heart to God first? We are all sinners, never deserving the beautiful heaven God is preparing for those He loves.
The psalmist writes:
“None is righteous, no, not one …”
Psalm 14: 10 [iv]
And the Apostle Paul said:
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit …
Titus 3: 4-5
This is what I call putting the heart before the course, not in Thoreau’s cart, but Von Gorhen’s heart. We repent of our own efforts to win God’s favor and submit to His lovingkindness—His mercy—His not giving us our “just desserts;” i.e., sending us into a Christless eternity. Surrendering to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior is the heart of the matter; the course follows—as listed above in the introduction. We follow the course: we do good, we serve Him, because Jesus did for us what we could not do; He, the perfect Lamb, died in our place and rose again to give us victory over our wrongdoing. What a precious hope and sacrifice so we may live with Him eternally. From this, the course is motivated in our hearts through love.
To get back to Thoreau, the beautiful life is only adorned after we have submitted to the sacrifice of the most beautiful life ever lived. He sacrificed in our place to give us a life to adorn for God’s glory. We strip away all our puny efforts to be good enough, and trust in Him.
~~~
Which Comes First?
I want to build eternal life—
and make a lovely home
for others who may cross my path
and stay while they may roam.
But shall I set some bauble out
without a place to rest?
and hope for others to enjoy
my stuff that has no nest!
No, that is like I have a cart
with good things to precede,
and then expect to progress on
with nothing in the lead.
If such is true, I would exclaim,
“My cart’s before the horse!”
But rather should I yield to God
my heart before the course.
June E. Titus
Challenge: Are you trying to work your way into heaven, or have you trusted in the blood of Christ to redeem you—your “heart,” and His resurrection to your new life—your “course.”
Prayer: Father, thank You for Jesus’ perfect and beautiful life, lived and died for me and risen to give me a new life. Because of Him and in His name. Amen
[i] Walden – Chapter I: Economy (Part 5 – Shelter) | Thoreau & Beyond
[ii] This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
[iii] https://heartbeforethecourse.substack.com/
[iv] All Scriptures taken from English Standard Version (ESV)
