A Heart for God

written by Brad Boruff on the topic of Featured, Personal Development on January, 2012

“Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart,” (Psalm 119:2).

The Bible has much to say about our hearts. God is intensely interested in our thoughts and emotions. We may think that it does not matter to God if we have an indifferent attitude toward Him, but the Scripture says that He will bless those who are seeking Him with their whole hearts.

No one can see your heart. In fact, the Bible teaches that we do not know our own hearts. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). However, there are indicators that can help us know if we are seeking after God with our whole heart.

• Our Thoughts

“For the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee,” (I Chronicles 28:9).

God wants us to love Him. He searches our hearts to see if we are thinking of Him. Monitor your thoughts and you will begin to get a good picture of where your heart is focused. If you are not thinking about the things of God, your heart is far from Him. “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts,” (Psalm 10:4). I was talking with a new Christian this past week, and he said something that really encouraged me. He said, “I have been reading my Bible more lately and I find that I think about God all the time.” I thought, there is a person who is growing in the Lord. There is a person who has a heart for God.

• Our Testimony

The things we do are a testament to the condition of our hearts. Not just the things that we do when we know that people can see us, but also the things we do when no one is watching. God pays attention to our actions. When Elijah told the Lord that he was the last one who still served faithfully, the Lord said, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him,” (I Kings 19:18). God was paying attention to what His people were doing in Elijah’s day, and I believe the same is true today. “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars,” (II Chronicles 16:9).

• Our Time

Time is the stuff from which our lives are made. It is said that the best way to spell love is T-I-M-E. The time we spend in prayer points to the love we have in our hearts for God. If you love someone, you want to communicate with them and prayer is our means of communication with God.

The Bible is God’s communication to us. The time we spend reading the Bible reveals our love for God. The more time we spend in God’s Word and prayer, the more our hearts will be in tune with Him.

It is natural for us to live for ourselves; it is not natural for us live for other people. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another,” (John 13:35). The Lord wants us to live for others, and when we live for others it reveals our heart for God.

• Our Treasures

The way we spend our money is a huge billboard for what is going on in our hearts. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” (Matthew 6:21). Do you tithe? Do you give offerings above the tithe? Do you give to missions? Do you give to others around you in need? These are investments in eternity. “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal,” (Matthew 6:20). These investments knit our heart with the heart of God, because we are giving to the things that He cares about most.

• Our Talents

God has given each of us certain abilities and aptitudes. The Bible refers to them as gifts. What are you doing with your gifts? Are you investing them in eternity, or are you squandering them completely on yourself? I believe that every Christian has something that He should be doing for the work of the Lord and for the people around him with the gifts that God has given him. When we give our talents to God, it is an indicator that we have given Him our heart.

Are you seeking the Lord with your whole heart? No one has a perfect heart. We all hold back on God from time to time. Our hesitancy and selfishness cause our hearts to grow cold and indifferent. Day by day and hour by hour, our choices reveal the condition of our hearts. When we begin to whole-heartedly seek the Lord, His blessings begin to manifest themselves in our lives.