One of the themes of Jesus' life and of my life is the heart. The heart, the core of us, who we really are, is at the center of something Jesus says.
Matthew 15:7–9 (NIV84) You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”
Evidently God doesn't care about honor and veneration that comes from the lips. In fact Jesus is equating vain worship with a heart that is disengaged. Vain worship is no worship. It is a "result-less" expression of allegiance to God. Without your heart engaged you are not allegiant!
Your brain makes your lips form words, so your heart need not be engaged to say "I love you". Which of us wants to marry a spouse who says they love us all the time, but their heart isn't in it? We can tell when a person's heart is disengaged. The heart is at the center of it all. Jesus goes on to talk about the things that come from the heart that are evil later in this chapter. The heart will produce who you really are even though you force your lips to say otherwise. He was arguing with religious leaders about outward behavior rules being meaningless without the heart. Your heart is who you are. It's like the old saying, 'if you are a dog, you naturally will bark. However no matter how much you bark, you won't become a dog."
Engage your heart in all you do. If need be, trade it in for a new one. God promised to take our hard heart and give us a heart of flesh. That is the New Covenant promise, a new heart! With the new heart we can fearlessly be engaged loving our kids, loving our spouse, in our work, in attaining our goals and especially in worshipping God.
Matthew 15:7–9 (NIV84) You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”
Evidently God doesn't care about honor and veneration that comes from the lips. In fact Jesus is equating vain worship with a heart that is disengaged. Vain worship is no worship. It is a "result-less" expression of allegiance to God. Without your heart engaged you are not allegiant!
Your brain makes your lips form words, so your heart need not be engaged to say "I love you". Which of us wants to marry a spouse who says they love us all the time, but their heart isn't in it? We can tell when a person's heart is disengaged. The heart is at the center of it all. Jesus goes on to talk about the things that come from the heart that are evil later in this chapter. The heart will produce who you really are even though you force your lips to say otherwise. He was arguing with religious leaders about outward behavior rules being meaningless without the heart. Your heart is who you are. It's like the old saying, 'if you are a dog, you naturally will bark. However no matter how much you bark, you won't become a dog."
Engage your heart in all you do. If need be, trade it in for a new one. God promised to take our hard heart and give us a heart of flesh. That is the New Covenant promise, a new heart! With the new heart we can fearlessly be engaged loving our kids, loving our spouse, in our work, in attaining our goals and especially in worshipping God.
RSS Feed
