The Enemy Within, Part 1
Part of Jesus’s teaching, training, and mind-renewing coaching for his apprentices (and the crowds) was to explain to them the role of God’s word in his kingdom. So in Matthew 13, we see him teaching his disciples and the multitude from a fishing boat. He began with the parable of the farmer planting seeds—representing God’s word sown into the soil of our hearts; but then he explained why many people would not produce a kingdom harvest from what God sowed.
In some cases, the reason for this was external; for example, the enemy came to steal or sabotage the crops (Mat. 13:4). But in many other cases, the failure to bring any kingdom seed to harvest was because of the enemy within:
(Matthew 13:13–15 DKJV) “This is why I speak to them in parables: because seeing they do not see; and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. (14) And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah (Chapter 6:9, 10), which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive. (15) For these people’s hearts have become fat (overcharged, dense, thick); they heard with heavy ears, and they have closed their eyes. So that they at no time would perceive with the eyes, hear with the ears, and understand with the heart, and turn back to me, and I would heal them.’”
Jesus said that the first category of non-producers of kingdom harvest had the following three characteristics:
• Their hearts have become fat (overcharged, dense, thick),
• They hear with heavy ears,
• They close their eyes.
The Master explained the outcome of these three traits: “So that they at no time would perceive with the eyes, hear with the ears, and understand with the heart.” He is describing a life that is disabled in the area of perception, spiritual hearing, and understanding. These three abilities are crucial for operating effectively in God’s kingdom. So how did this happen? Jesus said it was because of their own actions and lifestyle: they fattened their hearts, they made their ears heavy, and they closed their eyes. What do these mean, and how do we avoid them? To find out, we begin by looking closely at what Jesus said leads up to this condition:
“These people’s hearts have become fat”
First, he said they have a “fat” heart. The word translated, “fat,” in the above passage means, “fat,” “thick,” “dense,” or “calloused.” Perhaps all four apply:
The heart that is fat is already overfed on empty calories. That is, it is full to overflowing with spiritual junk food; its owner is constantly meditating and focusing on frivolous things of no eternal consequence. Hence, his or her heart has no appetite or room for the precious nutrition of God’s eternal word.
Another meaning of the original word is that the heart is “thick.” This speaks of a large fatty heart with a hard external barrier; it won’t allow God’s word to enter.
“Dense” speaks for itself in Aussie slang vernacular: as teenagers, we referred to someone as “dense” if they were slow learners or simply unwise in their choices.
Like the calloused hands of a laborer, a calloused heart is one that has been overworked in the tough things of life. Its surface grows hard in a self-powered attempt to resist any more pain—or even possible pain. The calloused heart says, “You can work me—even abuse me—but I will not allow it to reach deep inside me; I refuse to feel it.” Consequently, this heart has developed a hard external shell—one that doesn’t allow anything to penetrate—bad or good. Sadly, this deceived attempt to keep out pain also excludes the precious seed of God’s kingdom word. Thus, it has no source of light, life, joy, healing, faith, encouragement, or love. This heart slowly dies.
Jesus mentions the idea of a fat heart again in Luke chapter 21, when talking about the time just prior to his return:
(Luke 21:34 KJV) “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.”
Our Lord warns that through our own choices our hearts can become “overcharged”—overloaded, weighed down or burdened—in this case, through unwise and unbridled living.
Therefore, in Jesus’s core teaching about how to operate in God’s kingdom—by bringing his word to harvest in the soil of our hearts—he explained that we can become our own enemy. If we overload our hearts with non-essential content—including frivolous pursuits, an excess of inconsequential input, and unwise, unbridled living; or if we toughen the exterior of our heart to block anything from entering, we keep God’s word-seeds locked out from growing there. Then sadly, the very things we crave—life, joy, health, faith, love, etc.—cannot enter our heart, take root there, and grow to a bountiful harvest.