The Condition of the Heart

The religious person feels justified in keeping the commandments and doing all the right things to please God and man. But in contrast to what we read in the Old Testament, we see Jesus changing the rules in the New Testament. In the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5, Jesus emphasizes how it is the condition of the heart that pleases God, rather than outward acts alone. Jesus says, “Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

The sixth commandment in Deuteronomy 5:17, is “Do not commit murder”; but Jesus clarifies, “I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Fool!’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You moron!’ will be subject to hellfire….” (HCSV). So we see that with God, it is the condition of the heart that is plain before Him. He is more pleased with our relationships to one another than our offering sacrifices of praise and prayer to Him with an unforgiving heart.

In reading 1 John, we are reminded that love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. “The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (4:7-8). Furthermore...

God’s love was revealed among us in this way; God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (sacrifice) for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us (4:9-12).

This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given to us from His Spirit. And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God--God remains in him and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him (4:13-16).

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me and sending your Son, Jesus, to be my Savior. Help me to see that you love me unconditionally. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, and help me to forgive and love others you have placed in my life. In the name of Jesus, I pray. -Amen.