When God Looks at Your Heart

For those of who have read my previous posts, you know that I have been on a journey to separate out the real Jesus and the real Christianity from American Christian Culture. So much of what we do in Christian circles, the vocabulary we use and the unstated rules and expectations strike me as really silly. Not sinful, not wrong, just silly. So I am trying to sort the silliness from the realness.

What God cares about more than anything is our heart and motive. What people care about are outward appearances. The verse in  I Samuel 16:7 when Samuel annoints David where he reminds us that God does not look at the same things people do always makes me pay attention. God looks at the heart. Character and motive matter most to him. When God looked at undersized David, he saw a king.

Here is where Christian Culture gets in the way; oftentimes when seen through human eyes, we can be doing what appears to be the right thing based on the rules of Christian Culture, but our motive is wrong. Striving for excellance in what we do is a right motive because then we are showing gratitude for the gift God has given us. However, someone who is a workaholic, who must a achieve to feel valued looks a lot like the person striving for excellance when viewed from the outside, only God knows their heart and deep wounds they fill with the false God of accomplishment.

Likewise, we are supposed to encourage each other by sharing about growth in our faith so we don't lose hope. Sometimes though the motive of someone who shares about how many people they "witnessed"(another Christianeze word I hate)to  is to get the accolades and the praise of men. It is the person who does a kind deed and then doesn't immediately run to tell their Christian circle what they have done that impresses me and it impresses the unbeliever. 

I am most impressed by the quiet person who did one kind thing after another because she were overwhelmed by Christ's love. This person never raced to the stage and grabbed the microphone. Though everyone spoke well of her, she never recounted her spiritual giant deeds to anyone.  At  her funeral, hundreds came forward to share of quiet kindness that changed them.  I  want to be like that woman. 

Lately, I have been asking God, when you look at my heart, what do you see? 

Sharon Dunn is at work on a romantic suspense. You can read more about her books at www.sharondunnbooks.com.     

Comments

[Amy]

That is what I am working on this summer but it is so hard to be consumed by gossip. I want to quietly go about my job, doing the extra. But then you get side tracked by something someone said or did. There goes the postive....

That is what I want to focus on-that I fear a God bigger than I am not fearing the big boss of the corporation. I want my coworkers to see someone who is willing to help not complain.

[essay]

God never judges us from what our outside look. He always look at what is in our heart. For him, our heart reflects what and who we are and how we live our life in this world.