God's Heart
“This people draw near to me with their
mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me...”--- (Matt.
15:8)
Do we
follow God’s Heart? Or do we waste time singing songs that He’s not even
listening to? (Amos 5:22-24) This is a
very important question. Are we real? Or are we playing church? Are we
welcoming? Or are we doing another church program? God plainly says that He
will not listen to our worship. He wants us to do Justice and Mercy. (Matt.25)
So, where
is God’s heart? Does God’s heart want us to worry about obeying the Law? Does
He want us in bondage to making sure we follow every ordinance of man and God,
and making sure everyone else does to? Is that God’s heart? Is it in rules and
regulations? Even though His law is good, like all things from God, I think we
can see from scripture that His heart is not all about Laws.
God’s
Heart at this time, toward us, seems to be the salvation of mankind. From the
moment Adam fell, God has been working to restore man to a right relationship
with Himself. He has worked to save us, individually, and collectively. The
entire Bible speaks of it, and it doesn’t matter what language you read it in.
If you remove Jesus Christ, as the redeemer of Humanity, you lose the whole
thing.
Wouldn’t
it seem true that God’s Heart would lie, where His Son is? Wouldn’t it be true
that since He sent His Son to die a terrible death for us that His heart might lay
there? That He left glory, and came to Earth Himself, and mingled with us, and
healed us, and ate with us that His heart might be toward us? But, we think
it’s all about Law.
He raised
up a people for Himself, in order to have a beachhead, whereby He could invade
this Satan controlled world. He worked to get those people to turn to Him and
serve Him, in the desire of His heart; which is saving Humans, waging the war, and
showing the world that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently
seek Him. Then, He turned to the rest of mankind, not as an afterthought, but
as part of the original plan. Could His heart lie here?
We could
speak of David, who was a man after God’s own heart. But, why was He called
that? He was called that because of Faith, because He was quick to turn to God,
and because He was diligent in growing the Kingdom. We see Solomon who built
the Temple of God, Which is a house of prayer for ALL nations. And that house
of prayer is Jesus Christ, who rose for our justification. He died and rose for
us. Wouldn’t you think God’s heart would lie here? And then He rose into
heaven, alive, and gave His last commandment, to go forth into all nations.
Why? To get them saved! That’s the whole
point.
So, when
believers think that they honor or serve God, by sitting in the four walls of a
church singing songs, and condemning people who do not want to come and sit
with them, their heart is far from Him. That was not why he came. When we
condemn people for not obeying the rules, He is far from us. That is not why He
came. He came to save us. And that is the work that ALL believers should be
doing. Our gifts are for that purpose. We are to be preaching the Gospel, and
telling people about Him; leading people to be saved. We do this as a church
body, and as individuals.
He doesn’t
listen to our words of worship, if we are not doing justice and mercy. If we
are not spreading the Gospel, and helping people, then He is not listening to
our worship. Our hearts are far from Him. If we rise up, and help people,
waging the war, and spreading the Gospel. God will move in our lives. He will
grow us, and feed us and teach us. Through this we will begin to truly obey
Him, and we will be following His law, and then finally, we will be worshipping
Him. Because it will be a true worship for who He is and for what he has done
for us. It will be Him worshipping Himself through us, just as He works through
us when we let Him. It won’t be about standing in a big room singing the same
songs, week after week, in order for our friends to see that we showed up.
He’s not
listening, if we do not do justice and mercy. Our hearts are not with Him, and
our lips are false if we are not chasing after the things of His heart. Do we
believe or not? Is He not able to lead us, and teach us? Do we need the next
great Bible study? Don’t we know enough
to go do the work yet? Or do we need a sharper sword to kill other believers
with?
Go do the
work. Go fight the fight. He is with us, as we give ourselves to Him and do the
work. He works through us, because when we give ourselves to Him, He makes us a
pure vessel. Not by our works, not because we “act’ like Christians, but
because He has saved us, and is working in and through us. Quit acting, like a
Christian, you are a Christian because you have turned to Him, and confessed
Jesus as your Lord and believe He rose from the dead (Romans 10:9-10)
Now,
follow after the things of His heart, and watch what He does.
-----
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois.
Photo by the writer.
Photo by the writer.
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