I stumbled onto a quote the other day that caught my attention in a big way. The observation was attributed to the well-known British preacher Charles Spurgeon.
“In the four Gospel accounts given to us in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—eighty-nine chapters of biblical text—there’s only one place where Jesus tells us about his own heart.” -Spurgeon
Following that, I did some research of my own and found this:
“Once you exclude the duplications of Jesus’ speeches in the four gospels, the total number of words spoken by Jesus is 31,426.” (Quora and How Many Words of Jesus are red? | The Synoptic Gospel)
Now, in only 7 of those words does Jesus tell us what is at the very center of all that he is — what he is in his innermost being, his heart. He said, “I am gentle and humble in heart.” Here’s the context from Matthew 11:28-30 (NET)
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NET)
Let’s go deeper. Consider this: since Jesus is “the radiance of his [God’s] glory and the representation of his essence” (Hebrews 1:3) (NET) — what his heart is, God’s heart is. That means all that he thinks, does, or says — all that God thinks, does, or says — flows from these two heart qualities: gentleness and humility.
Now let’s factor in 1 John 4:16 — “God is love.” I take that to mean that God is pure helpfulness. Altogether, then, we could conclude that that helpfulness — in both attitude and action — always flows from a heart that is perfectly gentle and humble. I’m persuaded that the fact that God is love by nature and gentle and humble at the very center of his being is the quintessence of God’s glory, a glory that is seen in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV) “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”
So next time you look up to the Lord, remember, pure helpfulness is coming your way, full of gentleness and humility.
