Tuesday, April 15, 2014

“Thoughts and Intents”


    “What?” matters.  “Why?” matters more.
   
    “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (I Samuel 16:7).
    “The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

    Good things done for the wrong reasons will burn like empty chaff when God judges the works of His trusting children in Christ (I Corinthians 3:12-15).  Moreover, we may hinder others who see through the hypocrisy of words and actions that may appear pure, but which actually proceed from an unholy fount of self-centered intention.  We must therefore keep our hearts ever before the Lord for His motive-purifying work of grace and truth in the Lord Jesus.  “Search me and know my heart” prayed King David (Psalm 139:23).  We do well to join him, and to also do that which David could not do, namely, keep our hearts in the Bible that both directly and implicitly focuses our attention on “Why?”

    The Spirit of God ever works in us to establish the glory of the Lord Jesus as the first reason for all things.  “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Corinthians 10:31).  That which honors Him proceeds from the heart of God to our own hearts.  Anything that fails to accomplish such purpose also fails to meet the test of motive and intention.  Thus, we do well to keep an ongoing communication with our Heavenly Father about everything in our lives.  “Does this reflect well on the Lord Jesus, and am I doing it for this holy purpose, as led and enabled by the Holy Spirit?”  This will be the defining and determining issue of the Judgement Seat of Christ.  It is also the defining and determining issue of this day, and this moment…

“He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.”
(Colossians 1:18)

Weekly Memory Verse
    For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
(Ephesians 2:18)

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