Sincerely Setting Our Hearts on God
A. In speaking to Gods desire for him, David wrote, Behold,
You desire truth in the inward parts,
0 and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Psa. 51:6. If we deal with God at all, we must deal with Him in
good faith. Our approach to Him must be sincere and straightforward.
To the best of our ability, we must really and truly want from
God what our approach to Him seems to say that we want.
1. Most people are aware that the strongest language in the Scriptures
is directed against hypocrisy. Jesus exposed the Pharisees: "Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed
tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are
full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also
outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of
hypocrisy and lawlessness. " Matt. 23:27-28. Yet while we
are uneasy every time we read these words, we don't normally see
ourselves as being guilty of the sin they condemn. We're not everything
we should be, but we know we're not guilty of such blatant deceit,
at least not intentionally.
(A) But, hypocrisy wears many masks, and can creep into our character
unnoticed. If we say that we "seek" God and we engage
in certain outward actions that appear to be those of a seeker.
We convince ourselves that we really desire God -- for His own
sake, as He truly is, and on whatever terms He stipulates. However,
we often have something less in mind. All we really want from
God, much of the time, is just a little help adjusting our outward
lives to the prevailing social standards of goodness.
(B) What He desires, however, is to adjust our inward lives to
His eternal standards of truth, and thats very different.
If we really have no intention of going where we know God is headed,
what does that say about our "seeking" of Him? But,
God is not mocked. He cannot be manipulated. He requires that
our actions truthfully reflect our desire and that our true desire
be nothing less than conformity -- body, soul, and spirit -- to
the realities of His truth. Sincerity is the prime requisite in
every approach to the God who requires "truth in the inward
parts" and who hates all hypocrisy, falsehood, and deceit.
(C) Acts 20:32.
Spur -06/01/03 pm
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