Humble hearts.

Job 35:6-7 says, “If you sin, how does that affect God? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on him? If you are good, is this some great gift to him? What could you possibly give him?”

I love how the Bible can be so confronting sometimes. I was having a conversation with someone recently and they asked me, “How much does God pay you for going to church?”

This question made me realise that sometimes people have the wrong perception of God. They believe that by not sinning or by going to church they are doing God a favour. Well, I have news today. When the Bible warns us against doing something, it is not so it can benefit God. It is such that our lives may be enriched and full of blessings. Romans 6:23 MSG version says, “Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master”.

Living life God’s way is not to any benefit to God but it sure is a benefit to us. We get to escape the second death and have eternal life with Jesus in Heaven. You know, God cannot be tricked, we are not smarter than Him. Nor can we hide anything from Him for He knows the hidden intentions of our hearts. I have been surprised at times when God knew things about my heart that I wasn’t even aware of. So nothing can be hidden from Him. We cannot outwardly do things but in our hearts we think we are doing God some major favours and we deserve eternal life because God owes us for not sinning or doing the right thing. God owes us nothing. If that is your heart today, repent.

Let us learn to serve God because He is God. Let us not indulge in sin because we have been rescued from the power of sin by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. We have been empowered to live righteously and not as a favour to God but in obedience to His word. We must exercise meekness and humility in our lives. God is bigger than us and smarter than us. He is God and we are not. Let us honor Him and ask Him to cleanse our hearts and our motives where we have gone amiss.

So, in relation to the question above- it was a question from someone who is lost and possibly looking for answers. For some of us who are in church we may not quite phrase it that way but our hearts could be wandering off. I thought this would be a good reminder for us to check our hearts and to check our motives. To remember to love the Lord our God with every passion of our hearts, with all the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within us, (Matthew 22:37).

In answer to the question, I can certainly say that my life is enriched and full of blessings, joy, peace, favour, wisdom from above- and I get to enjoy the most fulfilling and life-giving relationship of all; my relationship with Jesus. Nothing comes close to that and you cannot put a dollar value on any of those things. Let us do things in God’s Kingdom for the right reasons. It is time to get our hearts right with God.

Have a blessed week!