Who’s Fooling Who?

Wednesday, 14 June 2023

“What You’re after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.” – Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭6‬ ‭MSG‬‬

“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” – Matthew‬ ‭15‬:‭19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I’ve been having some conversations with one of the youth from the ministry on the way to church, and there is something that he said about 2 weeks ago that I will never forget. He said, “As a Christian, I refuse to pretend because one day I will come face to face with Jesus and I will have to account”. This just reminded me of how quickly we can get complacent and fall into the trap of putting on an act just to fit in and be conformed to what it looks like to be a Christian. We speak the language, we dress in the dress code, and we even pray the prayers, yet our hearts can be very far from Him.

We tend to think that if we do this long enough, GOD will be pleased and give us what we want eventually. The bad news is, even after 100 years, if our hearts haven’t changed, nothing will change. Why? It is because GOD looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). The pretending we do is only for man’s approval and applause. Sin proceeds from the heart, wrong desires and motives are hidden in the heart. The things we do in secret are just manifestations of what is in the heart. Those things that we think no one will ever find out, GOD sees them even before we do them.

“No one who abides in Him [who remains united in fellowship with Him—deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin. No one who habitually sins has seen Him or known Him. Little children (believers, dear ones), do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who practices righteousness [the one who strives to live a consistently honorable life—in private as well as in public—and to conform to GOD’s precepts] is righteous, just as He is righteous.” – 1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭AMP‬‬.

“Your word I have treasured and stored in my heart, That I may not sin against You.” – Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭11‬ ‭AMP

The true Christian life is lived from the inside out, it is both “in private, as well as in public”. GOD is not looking for actors, He is looking for us to give Him our old hearts of stone so that He can give us His heart of flesh which will cause us to obey Him and live in the blessings that He has promised (Ezekiel 36:26-28). This is the secret to living a fruitful and GOD-honoring Christian life, otherwise, we will always be moving from church to church and forget that our heart moves with us, we can’t run away from ourselves. “GOD, please make my heart new and clean. And make my spirit strong and true, deep inside me.” Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭10‬ ‭EASY‬‬. It is GOD’s Word treasured and stored in our hearts that will be a light on our path and how we walk reverently and in truth before Him.

GOD is not looking for actors, He is looking for us to give Him our old hearts of stone so that He can give us His heart of flesh which will cause us to obey Him and live in the blessings that He has promised