Where's Your Heart?

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away." 
Matthew 15:8


We live in a world where we constantly compare ourselves to others. What we wear. How we look. What talents we have, or don't have. How rich. How poor. How ordinary or extraordinary. It's easy to feel inferior and hard to feel superior. It's easy to see all of our faults and shortcomings and hard to see what makes us special, unique, and valuable.

We are special, unique, and valuable--every one of us. But when we measure ourselves against what others expect or we expect, we will always fall short. Even when we are beautiful, successful, and noteworthy, there will always be others who are more so. There is no such thing as being good enough or being at the top. Those places do not exist, therefore, in our minds, we will always fail to some degree.

What then should we use to measure ourselves? What scale gives us an accurate reading of our value, significance, and accomplishments? How do we know how we're doing? As a Christian you may think your worth lies in how much good stuff you do, how many Bible verses you memorize, how often you pray or read your Bible or share the Good News with others.  But these too are only man-made scales.

Jesus was approached by some religious men who asked Him why His disciples weren't following all the rules of Jewish tradition. In their eyes, Jesus and His disciples were falling short. Jesus responded by asking them why they weren't living in obedience to God. They thought they were perfect, but He said, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away."

They were being religious, but they weren't trusting God. They were acting intelligent and wise--as if they were wiser than Jesus, but He knew their hearts were elsewhere. They weren't focused on God and His love, they were focused on themselves and being superior to everyone else.

Sometimes others can make us feel stupid for how we dress, the choices we make, and the beliefs we have. We may think we have to please these people and change for them, but we don't. Jesus would call them blind and foolish for what they think is important and right, and He would call me foolish if I thought I had to please them by changing my appearance, making the choices they make, or striving for what they call successful.

My value and worth is found in God alone. In His love for me. Living in obedience to Him is about believing He loves me enough to tell me what is best for me. Only God can know that. Only He can lead me on the paths He has for me. Only in keeping my heart close to Him can I know how loved and treasured I truly am.



"I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is good and leads you along the paths you should follow." Isaiah 48:17


*Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.  All rights reserved.

Secret To Success

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel...He remained faithful to the LORD in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the LORD had given Moses. So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did.  2 Kings 18:5-7 (NLT)


Have you ever failed at anything?

Everyone fails sometimes. I have failed many times. Sometimes because I haven't tried or given something my best effort. I didn't have the motivation or take the necessary time to be successful. Other times I failed because I didn't have the time, talent, or brains to achieve my desired goals. Sometimes I failed because others put expectations on me I couldn't live up to, and other times I put those expectations on myself.

I failed at learning to play the piano when I was in fourth and fifth grade. My mom wanted me to learn and she had me take lessons for two years. I hated it! Being older now, I sometimes wish I had learned to play and can see why my mother had that desire for me, but I wasn't into it at the time, and I didn't have the finger-strength and coordination to learn without major practice. I hated practicing, I rarely did so, and I failed at learning to play the piano.

I also failed to achieve a goal I set for myself when I was older. I wanted to go to medical school and become a doctor. I took all the science and math classes I was supposed to in high school. I got straight A's. I went to college and majored in pre-med, but the college-level classes were too hard for me. I studied a lot, but I didn't understand the science and math-stuff well enough, and I gave up during my third year. My grades weren't what they needed to be, but it wasn't because I didn't try. I tried my hardest, but I failed to reach the goal of getting into medical school. Sometimes I wonder if I gave up too easily, but I know I didn't. Simply put, I couldn't do it.

In our society, failure is often looked-down upon. But failure, whether for lack of trying or lack of skill is okay. Really. It's okay to fail.

Why? Because of God's grace. He doesn't expect us to be perfect. He loves us even when we fail, and sometimes that's when we are most able to fully love and worship Him. Trusting in His perfection is worship. Trusting in my perfection is idolatry.

I've been reading the books of First and Second Kings in the Bible lately. As the name of the books suggest, they tell us about the kings of Israel. God originally didn't want Israel to be led by kings. He wanted to be their king. But the people insisted on a human king, so God gave them one. The first king was Saul, and he was followed by many others. Some of the kings we know a lot about, like David, Solomon, and Hezekiah. Others we don't know much except for one thing: whether they did what was good or evil in God's sight. Were they a good king or a bad king? Were they successful in God's eyes, or did they fail?

God's scale for whether or not these kings failed was based on one thing. Did they listen to God and do what He said? Did they trust Him and follow Him, or did they walk a different path?

God has different expectations for us than others do. He has different expectations than we do. My mom's expectation for me was to learn to play the piano, but I don't think that's what God had in mind for me or He would have given me more desire and talent to learn. My expectation for myself as a young woman was to become a doctor. I had the desire but not the brainpower, so I don't believe that was God's expectation for me either.

What did I do when I failed and let go of my hopes and dreams? I followed God. I asked Him to lead me, and He did. He led me to places of blessing, trials, new discoveries, hardship, happiness, failures, and success. The point isn't how successful I've been or how many times I've failed. The point is I have followed Him, and I know that's His perfect plan for me.

If you have failed at something, or many things, or if you are currently frustrated with your progress to achieve a certain goal, it's okay. Really. If you fail or succeed isn't the point. The point is to walk with Jesus, and He will always lead you exactly where you need to be.


Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5)