8 Principles for a Joyful Life - #6

Principle #6

Concentrate on your heart rather than your outward appearance.

You've heard the phrase, "God don't make no junk!" Yet we could easily believe we're "junk" if we fall for the culture's way of viewing ourselves. Television, the Internet, magazines, and movies bombard us with images of thin, rich, beautiful people. Never mind that many of their lives are falling apart.

In Principle #3 I wrote about how I viewed myself before I knew Christ - dumb and ugly. I believed the lies about the importance of my outward appearance. Don't get me wrong; there's nothing wrong with looking nice. But God began showing me that the selfishness, pride, and critical spirit that covered my heart needed more attention than the clothes that covered my body.

When God rejected Saul as king, He sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse's sons as king. When Samuel arrived at Bethlehem, he saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord."

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

The culture we live in judges people by their physical appearance or where they live, what they drive, or by their occupation. Doctors rate higher than garbage collectors. People idolize popular entertainers and sports figures.

Listen to what Jesus said about outward appearances in Matthew 23:27:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on th inside are full of dead men's bones and everthing unclean.

So how should we "concentrate on our heart?"

1. It needs to be carefully guarded. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." As a new Christian, a televangelist deceived me because I did not know the Bible. I naively took into my heart everything he said as truth. Once God opened my eyes to the deception, it took a year of studying God's Word to rid my heart and mind of the lies I so easily believed.

2. Realize the heart controls our speech. Jesus said in Luke 6:45, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." We think we can hide evil in our hearts, but eventually it will come out. The televangelist I cited eventually brought about his downfall with his words. He was exposed for the fraud he was. Conversely, what comes out of Billy Graham's mouth? The gospel fills his heart, and his words prove it.

3. Remember that God knows the secrets of our hearts. Psalm 44:20-21 says, "If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God have discovered it, since He knows the secrets of the heart?" It shouldn't scare us that God knows the secrets of our hearts because we serve a loving, merciful God. But it should cause us to deal with sin in our hearts. Remember the story of David when he committed adultery and had Bathsheba's husband killed? He thought he covered it up, but God sent Nathan the prophet to David. Nathan told him a story that caused David to repent and cry for mercy. Psalm 51 is the result of David's sin and a good model for us when we sin.

4. Pray for an undivided and teachable heart. In Psalm 86:11, David prayed, "Teach me Your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever." Since we live in a culture that wants to steal our hearts, we need to be like a child with his parents, willing to learn. Our four year old grandson, Josh, has just been diagnosed with Asperger's, which is low on the scale of autism. He has an undivided and teachable heart. When I see him, he runs to me and throws his arms around me and says, "I love you, Grammy!" Love fills my heart for him. I think God must feel like that toward us when we our hearts desire only Him and His will, and, like David, we tell Him, "I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever."

5. Meditate on the benefits that come from having a heart after God. Let's look at just a few.

a. Security. Read Psalm 16 to get a picture of how safe and protected David felt in the Lord. He says in verses 8 and 9, "I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure."

My husband, Steve, and I went through a financial downturn because of the stock market and also because of helping our teenage granddaughter. Eventually we sold our house in Plano and moved to an apartment in Denton. It took six months for God to make clear what we needed to do to financially survive our retirement years. During that time, I remained secure in God's ability to take care of us because we had experienced His provision for the past 30 years. As a new Christian, I often experienced instability because I had not yet learned that God is able to bring me through whatever circumstances come my way. But God builds upon the steps of faith we take, and eventually we learn that His faithfulness is unshakeble.

b. Comfort. Psalm 134:18 says, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." A friend of mine lost her seven year old daughter to a rare heart disease. I watched her hang on the to Lord as she grieved. She continued to cling to God during her brokenness, and eventually joy returned to her life. We don't always experience instant relief when tragedy crushes us, but we can know that God understands and is with us even when we feel dead inside. Many times I have cried and told God, "I don't understand, Lord, but I trust You. I know You're here with me."

c. Fruitfulness. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing." Joni Eareckson Tada has borne much fruit. She remains in Christ year after year in her wheelchair. Listening to her or reading her books paints a picture of a woman with a heart after God. She has been one of my role models for years. When my illness threatens to dry up my fruitfulness, I think of Joni. Having a heart after God is like watering and fertilizing a tomato plant. I want a bumper crop of fruitfulness in my life just like a well-tended tomato plant.

d. Joy. Psalm 97:11 says, "Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart." You can tell when a person has a heart after God. Joy bubbles out of them. Melinda, a former activity director at our apartment complex, lived that out. She left nine months ago,yet residents still talk about her contagious joy and the smile that never left her face. Her heart for God shone through everything she did. It took years for God to bring my joy to the surface. It was down in my heart, but God had much work to do in me to bring it out. If you lack joy, don't give up. Let God continue to work in your heart; someday you will be amazed!

These are just a few of the benefits that result from having a heart after God. I encourage us all to be like David who said, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." (Psalm 42:1-2a)