Luke 24:25
“Then He said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!’”
The heart is not the spirit. The heart is comprised not of the physical organ but of the mind, will and emotions of the human. It is with our minds, our wills, and our emotions that we believe the Word of God. What most people do not realize is that the born-again spirit already believes every word that God has ever spoken! This is where the chasm lies- what we believe in our spirit is not always what we believe in our heart.
In our study passage, two disciples were on their way to Emmaus from Jerusalem just after the crucifixion of Jesus. They had encountered a “stranger” to whom they were expressing their deep disappointment, sadness, and regret that Jesus had been crucified and therefore could not be the Messiah. Jesus was the “stranger”, but the disciples could not discern Him because of their unbelief. Here we find Jesus rebuking them and calling them “slow of heart to believe.” This phrase literally means stupid and slow to apprehend! Jesus had spoken to all of the disciple concerning not only His resurrection but that He Himself was the resurrection and the Messiah. He was therefore offended at them because they were sad at His crucifixion. They allowed their natural minds to talk them out of believing that Jesus would resurrect because of their limited knowledge of the supernatural. This was the reason for the sadness. Incidentally, negative emotions are always an indicator that something is outside the will of God. The will of God was for them to believe that Jesus was the Messiah and that He would resurrect the third day- had they been mindful of this they would have been overwhelmed with joy and peace despite whatever they might see.
In the same way that Jesus was unhappy at their unbelief of His promise, He becomes unhappy with our unbelief at His promises. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6); and God gave us all of the faith that we will ever need (Romans 12:3) so when we do not employ that faith, it is offensive to God. Dare I say it is abominable to Him. More than anything He wants us to believe Him, for it is written that the two commandments in the New Testament are to love as Jesus loved us and to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 John 3:23) Faith works through love (Gal 5:6) and thus if we do not realize how much God loves us, then our faith will stagnate and become ineffective. We are then slow of heart to believe. Make no mistake, being slow of heart to believe is a choice. It is an act of the will based on thoughts we think that produces negative, anti-faith emotions.
Therefore as it is this day, do not be slow of heart to believe what the Lord has told you. Reach out with your heart and take Him at His promises for they are good and give you all things that pertain to life and godliness. (2 Peter 1:3)
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