Its what's in your heart that counts

I was reading another guy's blog tonight, and he provoked me to think. He was writing about those awful churches that teach people to "embrace right living" as though that were some sort of erroneous teaching. I think he was trying to point out the error of trying to earn our righteousness by behaving properly, but it almost sounded like he was throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We are called to a life of loving obedience to God's ways. Its an expression of faith and gratitude and worship. No honest reading of the scriptures can bring us to any other conclusion. But what does that really mean? This was my comment on his blog entry:

Its all about motives. "Man looks on the outward appearances, but God looks on the heart." He is looking for a heart that truly desires to know Him, and to walk in friendship with Him. That will be a life of grateful obedience to His ways. There is no way to read the whole NT and deny that, (not that you would). The point, though, is the motive. You can obey out of a heart of loving devotion, or you can obey out of a desire to win God's approval and acceptance. The two can look just alike. One is a sweet aroma to Him; the other is worthless, even a stench in His nostrils. The challenging thing for us humans is that we can't see into people's hearts. God can, but we can't. Its one of those really important differences between Him and us. One day He will bring everything into the light. In the meantime, we just seek Him, and try to let Him have His way in our hearts. And we allow others the freedom to do the same. God will sort it all out. He lets the tares grow right there with the wheat. He's amazing like that. He knows who all the jerks are in the church. The real jerks. The ones with jerk hearts. And yet he patiently lets the jerks live right there among the sincere. It wont always be that way, but for now that seems to be His good pleasure. And for now He tells us to love our enemies. I am guessing that this would include those awful hypocrites in the church down the street. The jerks. Those people used to drive me crazy. They made me mad. They were dishonoring God with their unloving hypocrisy. I was filled with righteous indignation. Then He showed me my own heart, and He called me to love without judgment.

"Love your enemies, and pray for those who despitefully use you."

"Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

"Blessed are the peacemakers."

God can clean up the mess in "the church" when He is ready. One or two Ananias and Sapphira episodes and He will have everyone's attention. He wants those of us who think we know better to demonstrate the meekness of His kingdom of love, so that He has something to point at when He gets ready to show them what He wants them to be.

The current revolution against dead religious tradition is good. I am all for breaking out of man's philosophical structures and really seeking to know and live in the truth. But that truth is rooted and grounded in love. Love can be tough, but it still places supreme value on the one toward whom it is directed. Ranting about how screwed up the church is can be just as screwed up as the problems the rant is pointing out if its not motivated by a redemptive heart of compassion. That isn't always apparent in a lot of the "angry prophet" blogs out there. I am not saying its not there. I am not God, and I can't see their hearts. Sometimes, though, the love is difficult to discern.

But God will take care of that too. I just want to bless their passion, and trust that Jesus will continue to take them deeper with Him.