God Knows My Heart
I Chronicles 29:17
I know also my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness.
There have been many times in my life that I was disappointed or angry or embarrassed about someone else’s behavior and began to develop a bad attitude, whether being critical or angry, whatever it may be about that individual. It could be someone I have been looking up to for years, who has had a failure, or someone who fell short of my expectations of their life. I am finding out that to keep my heart pure and letting go of these negative thoughts and emotions, that I am learning to begin to pray for them, and at times even fast for them. It’s so easy to cop an attitude about someone when we don’t have the full story, or maybe we are going on hearsay only with no solid concrete information. And honestly, how much do we really need to know about someone else’s struggles anyways? I want to have a loyal heart before the Lord, caring enough not to add insult to injury, but enter into prayer and calling out for that one, that restoration and healing can begin and progress in their lives. I must have a willing mind that defeats the tempting suggestive thoughts of the enemy of our souls to think the worst, and then speak it out to others. Retraining our minds to stop thinking the worst, and training our brains not to repeat, react and then develop a nasty attitude, defeats that religious, pharisaical, religious spirit that Jesus defined as “whited sepulchers full of dead men’s bones.” I don’t want to be that. I want to have great grace and prayer and encouragement spoken and prayed in truth before the throne of God. There is a saying, “But for the grace of God there go I.” This is a posture of humility and gratitude that acknowledges our own sinful nature and our great need for God’s grace in our lives. This is a wonderful antidote to judgmentalism. When we see someone who is down and out, someone who is suffering hardship, or is reaping some unpleasant things in their lives because of poor decisions, we can respond in two ways. Our first response can be, “They deserve it and they should have made better choices.” Or we can learn to say, “But for the grace of God there go I.”
What about you? Can you honestly evaluate your thoughts and responses before the Lord? Let’s agree to ask the Holy Spirit to search us and know us and help us to mature into someone that the Lord will be pleased with and pass our tests before Him. Jesus exampled this great grace and truth one while hanging on the Cross when He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” I want to be like Him, and I believe you do too. Have a blessed day.
