I have never really thought there was even a question that my heart was bad! I always believed that until we see Jesus face to face someday, I will battle with my heart to be good but until then it is evil. I am beginning to think differently!
Before we come to Christ, our hearts are not good. BUT after we come to Him, He see's our hearts as good! That has set me free! Everyday I have things that I struggle with. I am always thinking in the back of my mind, "I am going to fail! God must be so disappointed in me! I have let Him down." It really is a miserable way to live! But I never thought there was a chance that God feels differently! And then I started reading:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your souland with all your strength.~ Deut 6:5
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart~ 1 Sam 16:7
Where your treasure, is there your heart will be also.~ Luke 12:34
All of man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.~ Proverbs 21:2
Is is possible that God does know my heart and it's desire to please Him even though I struggle with my flesh daily? Well, look at David's life in the bible. He had an affair with Bethsheba that cost him to lose his only son to death! He fell into sin over and over and yet God said about David, "He is a man after my own heart!"
Does that mean that I can just live how I want to live and do what I want to do because God knows I don't want to do those things, but He will forgive me anyway! NO WAY! But how beautiful to know that when I am continually picking up my cross daily and leaving my life in HIS hands, He see's me as good! Evil and God cannot dwell together! You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell~ Psalms 5:4 So to continue to believe that after I come to Christ, that I am just a sinner saved by grace, or that I need to ask for forgiveness over and over and even then, I am a filthy rag and I will never beable to live up to God's standards, is all a lie that has been planted to keep me closer from my first, true love, Jesus! We CAN live in peace and victory IF we know that our hearts are good when He is living and dwelling in it! That our God see's us as His children and He loves us and see's the good in us, not the yuck! He continually pours out His love and mercy to show us His plan and He will renew's us daily if only we ask!
The seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the work, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.~ Luke 8:15
And think of this awesome verse as you mull this over in your heart:
The lord thier God will save them on that day as the flock of his people. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. How attractive and beautiful they will be! ~ Zechariah 9:16-17
How sweet it is to know God sees me as a jewel on a crown not a dirty old rag needing to be bleached many times, everyday! :)
God, as I search for you daily, please remind me that I am yours and you are mine! May I walk in your ways and seek your face so that I may have the great honor of letting others see you in me! Thank you for seeing my heart in your way, and not how I FEEL! I love you and praise you for all that you do and all that you are going to do!
