Who is Jesus? #159

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

Your Heart

  

How do you feel about Jesus knowing your heart? Hum. I wonder if it stung the Pharisees when Jesus said (Matthew 15:8), “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” I wonder if it stung or if it went right over their heads? What do you mean “heart,” Jesus? What does that have to do with anything? We say all the things that sound right. We do all the things that look right.  We come to church three times a week. What more could you possibly want? Paul reminds us through our Ephesian brethren that singing that is not from the heart is not really singing (5:19), or that is all it is - singing - and not worship.

The fact that Jesus knows our hearts can be either quite unsettling or quite reassuring. In Matthew 9:4 Jesus asks some supposed experts in the law, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?” How does that make us feel? Do you ever have those “wrong” thoughts in your heart? Surely we all do from time to time. How do you think that Jesus reacts to those?

After a discussion on money Jesus says to the Pharisees (Luke 16:15), “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” So, no matter what men may think of us on the outside, Jesus looks down deep – into our hearts. Let’s look at the words of Paul in Romans 8:26-27

        Also the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not

        know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself

        speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep

        feelings that words cannot explain. God can see what is

        in people’s hearts. And He knows what is in the mind of

        the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God for His people

        in the way God wants (NCV).

This verse obviously teaches that when we do not know what to say as we approach God that the Holy Spirit steps in to communicate what is in our hearts to God. But I wonder if there might be a little more here.

Just because there is a moment – a moment of weakness - in my life where maybe my heart isn’t quite right -though generally speaking it usually is - have I somehow blown it? Could that be a moment of intercession for the Spirit to remind God that we typically have our hearts in the right place and that we need to be forgiven for this momentary lapse?

Since Jesus looks at our heart it makes sense that Satan will go to work right there, and every now and then he will gain a slight and momentary victory.  The Spirit then kicks into action in our behalf before God. We, then, are encouraged to make the correction and continue our journey of spiritual transformation.

The fact that Jesus knows our hearts is really only alarming to those who want to live hypocritically - or at least it should be alarming. For those who want to live closer to Him every day, we look forward to those opportunities to experience a heart correction from Him who knows our hearts.