Heart

I heard a pastor this week say that "God’s not after your behavior first, He’s after your heart."

I heard another pastor tell a story in which he was speaking with a young man who asked him, "Do I need to stop smoking weed to become a Christian?" The pastor said "No." The young man was shocked and confused so the pastor explained, "You don’t need to get better before you go to the doctor and you don’t need to get clean before you get in the shower."

David was described as being a man after God’s own heart. When I first heard this, I remember thinking "Man, this David guy must’ve really had it all together." And I was overwhelmed thinking that I could never get to that level. But then I learned that David was just as sinful as I was. So how could he be a man after God’s own heart? Because it’s not just our obedience that makes us after God’s own heart. That’s an after effect. He was a man after God’s own heart because his heart belonged to God.

A heart that belongs to God is one that reveres God above all else. It’s one that submits to God in all things and surrenders itself fully to God as the supreme authority.

Once our heart belongs to God, our behavior then becomes God’s handiwork. Like a blacksmith He puts us in the fire to refine us and shape us.

"…I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is our God.'"

‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭13‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We see this also with David. God made him King over Israel. But while David was King, he committed adultery with a woman named Bathsheba, and killed her husband so that he could have her to himself.

This greatly upset the Lord, and as part of David’s punishment, God took the son that Bathsheba had bore to David. God sought to teach David a lesson. To teach him that everything he has comes from Him. That just as He gives, He can also take away. And all discipline from God comes from love so that we may be changed for the good.

"My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You go to a doctor when you know you can’t heal yourself. But it’s up to you to follow their instructions. We go to God because we know we can’t save ourselves. But it’s up to us to follow His commands.

This is why we can’t go on living in sin. If we do we’ve deceived ourselves into thinking our hearts belong to God because if they did we would see a change in our lives. Don’t confuse living in sin with struggling with sin. When we live in sin we have grown numb to the voice of the Spirit trying to spur us towards what’s right because we have rejected it so many times. But to struggle with sin is a sign that we have chosen to fight against it. We will all wrestle with sin as long as we live on this earth.

What’s interesting is that the religions of the world are all behavior and no heart. They are focused on earning their salvation themselves by way of their noble obedience. But no one is without sin and every day we sin again, making greater the debt that we already couldn’t pay.

This is why I love the saying, "Religion is man’s attempt to reach God. Christianity is God’s attempt to reach man."

They look to us a followers of Christ and because we don’t succeed in following all of God’s commands they say, "You’re a hypocrite!" To which we say, "No, I’m a sinner. And that makes me the very one God came to save."

If our hearts belong to God, everything else falls under His sovereignty. Once our hearts belong to Him, our behavior becomes His craftsmanship, transforming us into all He called us to be when He knit us in our mother’s womb.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

"…give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways,"

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭23‬:‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬