Wednesday, June 24, 2020

This can be both comforting and terrifying: God knows who we really are.

Who we are...

During Jesus's earthly ministry, people watched Him to see what He would do. For example, "And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him." (Mark 3:2 ESV) They didn't realize that He did was revealing who He really was. They often saw Him as a religious lawbreaker rather than God in the flesh. They missed how He was loving people because they were too busy running people. They missed that Jesus acted true to His nature because they often wore one face on the outside that hid who they were on the inside.

Jesus operates in reverse. He knows our hearts even if we cover it by our outer actions. In Luke 5:21-22, we have a clear example: "And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, 'Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?' When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, 'Why do you question in your hearts?'" (Luke 5:21-22 ESV)

The point is this, God always knows our hearts. We often don't get His heart because we are looking at God (a) like we would people and / or (b) with our limited understanding as people.

God knows who we really are. If we act nice or try to act holy without it being a reality, God sees through the façade. He also knows when outlet motives are good and we just can't seem to get it together. In other words, He sees when we are doing right and being wrong AND when it appears we aren't doing right but our heart's motivation was right.


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