How's Your Heart?

Zechariah 7:4-6 "Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me saying, Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?"

How's Your Heart?

For seventy years-ever since the old temple had burned-the children of Israel had fasted at regular intervals to mourn the destruction of the temple. Now that the temple was rebuilt, the Israelites wondered whether the Lord wanted them to continue fasting every fifth and seventh month. They were concerned that their outward practices were exactly right-they wanted to "cross all of their t's."

God responds to their question with a question of His own: "When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month; even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even unto me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?" These were indicting questions! The Lord is saying to them, "I was not impressed by your seventy years of fasting because you did it for the wrong reasons. You did it for yourself!"

God is not impressed with outward piety. He is pleased when He sees that your heart is His. Do not misunderstand-doing right outwardly and being right inwardly are not mutually exclusive! You should never assume that Christians with strict outward standards are hypocrites on the inside. God wants our outward practices to be in line with His Word, but He is not satisfied with only outward practices. He wants both outward obedience and inward devotion to Him. One without the other is of no worth to God.

We see this theme throughout the Scriptures. James 1:27 characterizes "pure religion" by compassion on the needy ("to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction"). Paul teaches the Corinthians important principles about separation and then reminds them of the "bottom line" in I Corinthians 10:31: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." I John 4 reminds us that if we don't love our brother, we can't say that we love God. In Matthew 5, the Lord warns us against offering a sacrifice to Him if we have something against our brother. Do you see how important inward devotion is to God? He does not just want our hands; He wants our hearts!

The Israelites were so quick to "do, do, do" that they were not listening to God anymore. Before you rush into action for God today, stop to make sure your heart is close to Him. Pause to listen to His voice. Once you have heard Him and made your heart in tune with His, you are ready to get busy for God!


Prayer Requests:
- New York City Evangelistic Outreach next month (Jan. 5-9, 2009)

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