The Heart

First off, I’d like to start with Proverbs 21:2.  “All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.” And provers 16: 2 “All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.”

A lot can be learned from these verses.  1) A man’s ways may seem right to him.  Whether they be Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, etc.  And all of them may say the other is wrong.  But who really knows?  The next part of the verse tells us that God does.  God weighs the heart or the motives.   And that’s what I’d like to focus on for this paper when learning what God expects from the followers of Christ.  God expects a pure heart.  In Matthew 23, he reiterates that outside actions without the right motive mean nothing to him.  He rebukes the Pharisees for being hypocrites.  Starting in verse 5, he says that 5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.”  Later he says that they give a tenth of their spices, an outward showing of faith, but neglect the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness.  This isn’t to say that Jesus doesn’t expect us to outwardly set an example, but it is to say that without the inward motive, the outward appearance means nothing. 

In other parts of the bible, Jesus mentions the importance of intentions.  In Matthew 5:21, he says “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.”  And again in verse 27,” You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

To Jesus, it is not just not committing sin that we should strive for, but for the thought to never cross our mind.  For our hearts to be pure.  I say strive because the bible also tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  All of us will sin.  Some of us may lust.  Some of us may wish Ill will on another.   We’re human.  It happens.  But strive for that perfection.  Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.

Jesus says, again, when dealing with loving one another that we should love our enemies and pray for those that hate us or would wish us harm.  Matthew says in verses 46 and 47 “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”  If we only reach out to each other, what good will that do the rest of the community?  What good will that do the world?

These are all things that we have to fix and strive for within ourselves.  All of these are things that no others will see but God and yet, I believe, that these are some of the most important.  For Matthew 5:8 says “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  Not blessed are those that pray in the streets or Blessed are those that shout God’s praise just to be heard.  But blessed are the pure in heart.