Inventory of the Heart - Part 4

His Life….Or Mine

Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Over the past few months, the Lord has burdened me to take the time to really examine closely, the true nature and spiritual condition of my own heart. What are my motives in what I do and plan to do each day. Is there anything that I am hiding or cloaking over with busyness or indifference? Is there any area that I am reluctant or resistant to change or correct, in order to keep the inventory of my heart up to date and pure before my Lord?

These are hard sayings…it’s true. We must not say that we are devoted to Christ and continue to live self-sufficient, self-directed lives. We are not being honest with ourselves or with God. I find that much of American Christianity is full of self-promotion, self-desires and self-deception and is often wrapped up in a thin cloak of self-righteousness, just enough to make us feel good about what is underneath the cover up.

Two weeks ago, my husband and I returned from a three week trip to Prague, Czech Republic. We traveled with a group of twelve from our church and our mission was to help our church sponsored missionaries with follow-up work after a huge outreach campaign in that city.

I find something interesting happening to me every single time I go to the Czech Republic. I may be going there to help the Rettigs and the people of their growing work, but in truth….they help me more! Their newborn love and fervency for Christ and their burden for their lost countrymen is so painfully honest and easy to see that at first, Americans can think it is fake…not genuine. Upon closer examination and in spending
time with these precious saints of God, you begin to see just the opposite! We are the fake ones! We are the ones who lack pureness of heart and spiritual fervency!

American Christians know how to make the outside of the cup and platter shine like it is something really special, when underneath….the heart can be hypocritical and self deceived. That sickens me about the deception that can lie in my own heart.

Meet Jana….

She is the wife of Pavel. When I first met Jana a few years ago, she had just come out of atheism and strong new age thinking. Her past was not a pretty one. When Jana came out of darkness into the marvelous light of the gospel….everything changed! Just like the Bible says, all things became new! Close to that same time, Pavel (her future husband), was also going through Bible study on his own spiritual journey and inventory of the heart and God was working His plan… for both of them.

Today, just 5 years later, they are a family sold out to God’s will for their lives with no desires for their own lives…but just to please Him. My husband and I spent an afternoon in their home, a very small, (600 sq. feet) four room flat on the fourth floor of a huge apartment building in the center of Prague.

Jana was determined to make lunch for her four guests and I watched her as she measured, calculated and precisely planned a portion of her food for each guest. By American standards, it was very simple. I watched her labor over each portion and noticed her concern for making each plate adequate with the food she had available.

As we visited, I noticed several things besides the tight quarters that they lived in. First, there was nothing on the walls. Absolutely nothing ….just white walls. In the kitchen/living room area (the largest area and not much bigger than most American bedrooms), the only furniture was a table with 4 chairs and a couch, similar to a futon. She had a box with a few toys for their two year old son and high chair for his meal times. There
were no curtains on the windows. It almost looked as if someone had just moved in and were waiting on their furniture to arrive. On the floor sat their laptop computer.  Coming through the Internet on to their computer, I heard the strains of Heaven 88.7, the Christian radio station that many of us in the upper Midwest listen to. They love to listen to this station because it helps them learn English as well as teaches them new Christian songs. There was no television.

What am I trying to say here? Life for Jana is simple. She likes it that way. It’s a natural way of life in Prague but as a Christian, her focus is not on having better furnishings, pictures on the wall, curtains on the windows, beautiful, trendy clothes and jewelry or the latest gadgets. Lest you think that all these things are just not available to Jana I must let you know…they are. Prague is quickly becoming a very trendy, modern city. They want to be like America in every way they can. Material goods are much more readily available to the people of the Czech Republic now, but Pavel and Jana have made a choice…

“For to me to live….is Christ….”

I found out that Jana doesn’t want curtains on her windows or pictures on the walls because those are “distractions”. How profound!! A babe in Christ recognizes what many of us fail to see in our American opulence. For many Christian women who profess Christ…life is about what we have and what we want, rather than just desiring Him.

Let’s take inventory of our heart:

Are you consumed with the cares of this life?  
Is your conversation or heart’s desires all about things rather than the Lord or His Word? 
Does anything mean more to you than living for God and pleasing Him?

Jana just had a baby girl. The day before she went into labor she was out on the streets of Prague, passing out Christian literature trying to invite Czech people to the big gospel meeting that was to take place a few days later. She related to me that, “I just wanted to help. I just asked the Lord to give me strength for walking and not being able to sit down. It was hard but God helped me.”

Would we have done the same or would we have justified our absence by using our physical condition as a reason to not participate? Jana’s love for her Saviour was also made evident just moments after giving birth. She was so prepared to be a witness for her Lord, the real focus of her life, that after her baby’s birth and before the doctor could leave her room, she reached to the side of her bed (that’s being prepared!) and picked up a piece of gospel literature. As her attentive husband tells it, “In a weak and shaky voice she told the doctor that she had something for him and asked if he would read it”. He took the gospel message she offered. His blood was no longer on her hands…

“For me to live….is Christ…”

This is Jana’s life. This is her purpose for being on this planet. She knows and remembers the pit of sin that she was rescued from at salvation. Her present purpose has been well established! Has yours?

If you have actually continued reading to the end of this article, I challenge you to be a Jana in your world.

~ Clean up your life.
~ Make a distinct separation from the world in your personal lifestyle.
~ Live your life with an eternal purpose.
~ Die to self and self’s desires everyday and in every choice.
~ Represent Christ in every situation you find yourself in.


Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Our choice will be evident in our life… Thank you, Lord….for Jana.