The Importance of Your Heart Posture

Many of us have grown up with images of what Christianity looks like, or better known as church people. Judgmental people who give fake kindness and who condemn others. This depiction of Christians and church people has been perpetuated throughout the media for many years. This depiction has turned many away from wanting to follow Jesus. And have kept those away who have dealt with these types of people in the past. However, though these people may say that they are Christians and quote the bible and look the part. They lack the desire to have and imitate the true heart of Jesus.

       The Lord is not looking for people who look and sound the part. This is shown many times throughout the Bible with Abraham, Jonah, and many more. God is picking out people who didn’t believe themselves to have the right qualities to take on the job. Yet God wasn’t looking at their outward appearance; he was searching for what is in their hearts (1 Samuel 16:7). I write this to you because there is a need in the world to know the difference between religious people and true followers of Christ. As I have said before, Christianity is not a religion but a relationship between yourself and God. It is not a set of rules to follow, and if you break them, you are damned, but a relationship based on eternal love, truth, and promise. John 3:16 & Romans 5:8.

What do you mean that God looks at our hearts?

God does not look at your outer appearance; He looks at your heart. What is your heart posture? When we talk about heart posture, we talk about the attitude or condition of your heart in relation to God. Where does he stand on your list of importance in your life? What do you have placed before him? Anything that you have placed before God is an idol. God talks about idols many times in the bible the most well-known being the ten commandments, Exodus 20:3-5. In our day and time, everyone talks about putting themselves first and being the main character. Our society is normalizing being self-centered and elevating ourselves in return; it pushes the belief that we ourselves are the most important thing in our lives. Along with putting ourselves in that number one position, next to that are the things we can use to assault ourselves. Like makeup, clothes, accessories, cars, money, and social status, all start to become more important than God. In my personal struggles, I must check my heart and continue to do it when it comes to my love of reading. If I could spend my whole week simply reading, I would. But if I am not careful, I will prioritize my reading over the time I spend with the Lord.

It is not always the big things that can make an idol. In most cases, it’s small things like our phones or certain relationships where we prioritize a person over the one who loved us first.1 John 4:19, the one who created and knew us before we were born. Psalms 139:13

These things that come in and distract us from the Lord come in smooth and unannounced and in many cases if we are not checking in with the Lord often enough asking him to search our hearts and reveal what is not like him Psalms 139: 23-24. We run the risk of becoming lukewarm Christians.

What is it to be a lukewarm Christian?

Revelations 3:15 speaks of lukewarm Christians as those who are neither for God nor against him but are indifferent. See, when it comes to our heart posture and making sure we keep Jesus at the center, it is important. Because if we begin to allow our sights to be turned onto worldly things, we start to look more and more like the world. Yet Jesus called us to be set apart, Leviticus 20:26. We are not supposed to blend in with the world; we are called to be light and salt, Matthew 5:13-16. But if we allow ourselves to deal with the matters of the world, we begin to sacrifice our beliefs to conform to the world. Leading to you having one foot in the world and one foot with God. In Matthew 6:24, it states that you cannot serve two masters. The verse identifies the second master to be money, but we can replace that with anything we are serving right alongside God. We serve a jealous God, Exodus 20:5-6, and we shouldn’t be bowing before anyone or anything other than him.

In Revelation 3:16, the verse goes on to say that “because you are either hot or cold, I will spit you out.” By continuing in a lukewarm lifestyle, we run the risk of being removed from the grace of the Lord. Yet we serve a merciful and forgiving God farther in Revelation 3:19-22, Jesus calls us to repent, to answer the knock of his call, and to fully dwell with him as he dwells with the Father. How amazing it is that even though we can live a double life and honestly, play in God's face, if we just confess with our hearts and turn from our wicked ways, the Lord not only forgives us but also forgets our sins, Jeremiah 31:34

We have gone over heart posture and the downfalls that can happen if your sights aren’t fully set on the Lord. Now you have repented and turned from your wicked ways, now what? How do I continue to shape my heart like Jesus’s?

As Christians, our time on earth is to be spent glorifying God in all our ways and to live as Jesus did.  Our framework for this is the fruits of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23, Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If we live out life by these fruits and dwell with the Lord and lean on him for our strength, John 15:4-5, you will be able to overcome all the tests and trials of life.

Reflection

1)      What is the posture of my heart?  Am I prioritizing anything over my time with God?

2)      What areas in my life am I serving two masters? What do I need to surrender to the Lord?

3)      Have I fully opened my heart to Jesus? If not, ask yourself why not? What is stopping you?

4)      What fruits of the Spirit are my biggest struggles? Ask the Lord for help and guidance.

As you answer these questions and dwell with the Father, be mindful to be gracious to yourself. It is hard to look at the darker parts of ourselves and be honest with ourselves. But above all else, you are a child of the Most High, and there is no condemnation for those that dwell with him, Romans 8:1, so do not condemn yourself.

Verses

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

Romans 5:8 "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Exodus 20:3-5 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us."

Psalms 139:13 "We love because he first loved us."

Psalms 139: 23-24 23 "Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!"

Revelations 3:15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!"

Leviticus 20:26 "You shall be holy to me, for I, the Lord, am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine."

Matthew 5:13-16 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

Exodus 20:5-6 5 "You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."

Revelation 3:16 "So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

Revelation 3:19-22 19 "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’"

Jeremiah 31:34 "And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Galatians 5:22-23 "22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

John 15:4-5 "4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."