PROVERBS 21:2 – Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.
THEME OF THE DAY. A MATTER OF THE HEART. In the daily warfare Christians fight, the temptations leveled against us by the devil, the world, and our own lusts aim to get us to disobey God; to willfully say “no” to His commandments and “yes” to the temptation leading to sin. Yet, there is something far more at issue in this understanding of temptation. Yes, God looks at what we do and is concerned about what we do. His concern, though, goes beyond the external conduct in our lives. For Him, it is a matter of the heart – the Lord weighs the heart.
When the Lord saves people, it isn’t primarily a removing His wrath or keeping them from the torments of hell. It is about allegiance of heart; about love from the heart; about surrender of the heart; about attachment of the heart. Salvation is all about the heart. It is God taking away our old hearts of rebellion against Him and giving us a new heart drawing near to Him. The prophet Jeremiah writes of this “heart surgery” in the New Covenant God establishes with His new people in Christ – I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me (Jeremiah 32:39-40). Yet the giving of the new heart does not mean the battle is over in the Christian life. In fact, at new birth with a new heart, the battle just begins. And this takes us back to the opening paragraph.
Our understanding of temptation needs to go beyond the externals of obeying or disobeying God’s commands. For sure, the devil, the world, and our sinful lusts draw us to choose between disobeying or obeying Him, but it isn’t just about obedience or disobedience. If we reduce our lives to mere conduct of “to sin or not to sin” without getting to the core issue – the heart – we may avoid sin and be outwardly “Christian” but inwardly far from the Lord, even in sin. For instance, a person may not go out and steal something they want, but inwardly from the heart, sin against God by coveting the object or person. Same in the area of lust. We don’t have to commit physical adultery to commit the sin of the adultery. This principle of the heart sinning without external acts of sinning apply in a lot of areas – anger, impatience, spiritual indifference, undisciplined thinking, and worldly attitudes to name a few. Just because we don’t outwardly manifest the sin doesn’t mean it may not be manifested in the heart. And to prevent this, we must see all temptation as a matter of the heart. Really temptation boils down to a choice of where we direct our hearts – toward the Lord or toward the fulfillment of our lusts and sinful desires.
So, let’s start seeing everything in our lives as matters of the heart. Constantly ask ourselves, “Is my heart firmly attached to the Lord and eternity?” or “Am I conforming outwardly to His Word but inwardly allowing my heart to be attached to the pleasures of the world or my sinful flesh?” Should we begin to keep a constant watch on our hearts, then when temptations come, we will be armed to defeat them by keeping our heart in the right place – on the Lord whose heart is always on us!
PRAYER: “Father, may my life reflect a heart given over to You, Your will, and Your desires in all I do.”
QUOTE: “In its simplest definition, temptation is about drawing our hearts away from God”