God Looks at the Heart
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
God looks at our spiritual heart because it reveals everything about us. Whatever we think, whatever we say, whatever we do, God is looking at our hearts. What’s in our hearts is revealed by our thoughts.
The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time (Genesis 6:5). Our hearts are revealed to God by our thoughts. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7). Our thoughts reveal to God our true self. He knows the motivation behind our words and works, the level of our faith, our sinful thoughts, our desire to be like Christ, and the love that is in our hearts. We can deceive people and we can even deceive ourselves, but we can never deceive God.
If you love me, keep my commands (John 14:15). As the Lord molds us to the mind and heart of Christ, our heart gets filled with his love and our thoughts, words, and actions begin to be motivated by God’s love in our hearts. This forever-increasing love in our hearts indicates our spiritual growth and the Christ-like person we are becoming. Our motivation to go into the world and minister to lost souls increases, showing the increase of God’s love in our hearts. The more love we have for God, the more of his love is revealed in our hearts.
God is love (1 John 4:8), and the more love that is in our hearts the more we understand God and the more Christ-like we become. The more love that is in our hearts the easier it is to follow the Spirit, and all the commands of the Word. The Lord now sees our hearts with Godly thoughts and Godly desires. We now have hearts that prefer Godly thoughts over worldly thoughts and the things of God are more desirable than things of the world. This is a heart for God.
Today look at your heart and determine the motivation for your thoughts, words, and actions. This may be difficult but if your heart is motivated by love it will be easy to determine. Pray that the Lord puts more love in your heart, because the more love in our hearts the more Christ-like we become. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).
Let’s Pray: Lord, fill my heart with your love so I can reflect it to others. Keep me on track for continual spiritual growth, to become more Christ-like. Thank you for the Holy Spirit and the fruit of love. In Jesus name, Amen.