Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Only God Can See Your Heart, But Your Mouth Will Reveal It To People

Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart….For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man…— Matthew 15:18-20

I have made it a practice to listen more than I speak. I have learned that if you listen long enough, you will hear the heart of the person speaking.  It usually takes more than one conversation, but eventually you will hear the heart.  Only God can see the heart of man.  We cannot.

The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? – Jeremiah 17:9

Indeed!  I believe a fear that is common to everyone is that someone people will find out who we “really” are!  Well …. Bondye konnen … God knows … shouldn’t that cause us to tremble?  Yet somehow, we have taken the truth that God knows and relegated to something small when compared to the possibility that “man” will discover that we are fallible and are not quite so virtuous as we seem. As Christians, we often live a charade hoping to deceive those around us, and sometimes we do, but to what end?

As born again children of God we are to live for His glory and not for the praise and acceptance of men. We must stop trying to live up to people’s expectations and live for God. So many people struggle with finding acceptance from their parents, their family, their friends, or their co-workers.

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  – Matthew 15:8

The reason the Bible addresses this problem is because God knows it is a problem for us.  We struggle with allowing the things of this world to dominate us and influence how we live and relate to God and man.  Although seeking the acceptance of people as most important may help you feel better about yourself, it can never compare to finding acceptance from the Father through Jesus.  The only way that you will know that acceptance is by deliberately drawing closer to the Father.

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. – Matthew 6:33

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