God Looks At The Heart

“...The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 b

The old saying that states “never judge a book by its cover” holds some weight in the body of Christ as well. As human beings, we have a tendency to look at the outward appearance of a person and can miss the beauty of the human heart entirely. I for one am guilty of judging a person by their “cover.” If we take a look at scripture we see that I am not the only one who has stepped into the area of miss judging based upon what my eyes have perceived.

The poor widow’s offering

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44

In the natural, It is easy to think that giving more monetarily is always better, but this is not necessarily the case. The rich individuals in this passage would have been better off keeping their wads of cash instead of displaying their “generosity” for others to whisper about. These rich individuals were more concerned with the way they appeared to others then they were concerned with the attitude of their own hearts. Jesus saw right through their “appearance of holiness” only to notice that they came up quite short in the humility department. The point of this section of scripture was not bigger is better, but rather a soft and tender heart will always get the attention of Christ, and honestly, that is worth more to Christ than 100 wads of cash any day of the week!

Jesus anointed by a sinful woman

“When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:36-50

While the Pharisees were known for being a group of overly judgmental people in their day. I’m not so sure too many of us would have reacted much differently to this woman. This woman is referred to as a “sinner” in scripture, in other words, she was a prostitute, and a social outcast. So, imagine the look on Simon’s face when Jesus rebukes him for pointing the finger directly at her sin. Simon is no different than many of us, we look at the sin rather than the human heart that is desperately trying to do the right thing in the presence of Christ. Jesus recognized what Simon did not. He recognized the sweet and soft attitude of her heart. All Simon could see was her sin. May we be reminded of this story when we want to quickly point the finger at the sin rather than be willing to humble ourselves and look at the broken heart longing to be healed.

The underneath
It is so easy to point out the sin in the lives of others. It is often much easier to see the sin then it is to see the heart that desperately needs Christ underneath the seemly thick layers and layers of sin. I guarantee that underneath it all is a human heart that is longing for answers, and longing for connection. That heart may not even realize that it is longing for those things, but God has wired every human heart to long for answers and too long for connection. People will often hide their questioning and lonely heart behind a facade of pride and ego, a facade riddled with an independent spirit that gives the appearance of having it all together and needs no help from anyone, a facade that in the eyes of everyone else seems under control. But inwardly the heart is longing for something with purpose, something that is not so empty and meaningless. This is often where we as humans miss it. We are so quick to look that the facade and not at the heart that is crying out for freedom from this vicious cycle. Pointing the finger at the sin is not going to make that person want to give up sinning. All it will do is drive them further away from the God that we proclaim to be loving. Our witness will be ruined when we point at their sin rather than point at the loving God who created them. When we point out the sin we show our lack of love and are seen us as a hypocritical Christian. When we point towards our savior people see the love of Christ rather than us.

It is always better to leave people better off after meeting us then they were before they met us. If they walk away from their experience with us feeling as if they have just been put through an interrogation session, then we can forget about ever being able to introduce them to the true face of Christ. Christ is not an interrogator. Will the holy spirit convict the heart of sin? Absolutely! But we must always remember conviction is not our responsibility. That responsibility belongs in the hands of Christ.

Now, I realize that some of you are probably asking about Galatians 6:1?

“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” Galatians 6:1

What do we do with someone caught in sin? There are several things we need to understand about this verse. First, Paul was writing to the church in Galatia. He was addressing Christians, those inside the church, not to those outside the body of believers. He said “those who live by the Spirit” not those who live by the world. Second, he very clearly stated to “restore that person gently.” We are not to put them through an interrogation process and make them feel as if they were the scum of the earth. Lastly, we are to “watch yourselves, or you may be tempted.” Now, this is not necessarily stating that we will be tempted by the exact same sin that we are “restoring” the other person from. This could be any sin. We should watch that we are not tempted into a place of pride, such as thinking “how could they do such a thing? I would never do that.” Sin has no levels of severity in the eyes of Christ. The very definition of sin is anything that separates us from Christ.  It doesn’t matter how big or how small we think a sin is or isn’t. Sin is sin. It is not big or small in the eyes of Christ. It is simply separating, period.

Call to action

My encouragement to you today would be to try very hard to look past the sin that is glaring you in the face when you look at the lives of others and pray that the Lord gives you the ability to look at the hurting heart that is underneath it all. Behind every sinner is a human heart that needs Christ. When you are having a hard time looking past the facade, the Lord is more than willing to change your heart and mind about the entire situation, but you must ask Him to do so.  Too often we do not receive a change of heart towards people simply because we do not ask God for one.

Lord, thank you for looking past our outer facade and into our hearts. As humans, we so often put on masks and hide behind them in hopes that people will not recognize our true hearts underneath. Give us your eyes so we can see past the sins and mistakes of others and see the precious heart that you have placed within them, the hearts that desire to have answers for the unknown questions, and the hearts that need connection. Lord, give us wisdom when we should restore others and when we should simply place them in your hands for your holy spirit to take control of the situation. We do not have the capacity to change a human heart. So, help us to place others at your feet and leave the changing up to you. Help us to show your love and not point the finger at the sin in their lives.