Our motives are an important aspect of our hearts. This daily devotional looks at how our motives help form our habits, counteracting its wicked nature.
Nuggets
- For good or bad, our motivations come from within, necessitating the need for us to guard our hearts.
- We guard our hearts by forming good habits.
- Our hearts by nature are wicked.
Devotions in the Keeping Our Hearts series
This devotion is going to be a little different than others. It is a continuation of the previous devotion. Usually, though, I do a little better at picking where and how to break them.
Not this time.
I didn’t get nearly as far on the previous devotions as I wanted. So, I just stopped.
Let’s see how it picks up.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
The heart is the seat of our thoughts, will, and affections that produces our character, from which all things spring, including controlling our spiritual position.
Our Motives Are Important
“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person” (Mt. 15: 18 ESV)
For good or bad, our motivations come from within, necessitating the need for us to guard our hearts.
Our theme last year was a redo for godliness. We talked about redoing our character to match God’s.
Our character comes from within our hearts. Marling wrote, “The moral quality of every word and action depends on its inner motive.”
Resource
I think our new subtheme is going to be motivation. What motivates us to change our character?
In our redo for godliness we focused on the inward change. How can we see that change this year?
Our character determines our actions. Those actions grow into our habits.
All of these sermons are taking about issues of life. This is the outward manifestations of our character, which begin in the heart.
Guard Our Hearts with Diligence
“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4: 6-7 ESV)
We guard our hearts by forming good habits.
We just talked about habits being formed by repetition. We guard our hearts through repetition, also.
But instead of calling it repetition, we call it diligence. Diligence is a consistent, persistent effort through repentance to obey God’s laws and commandments.
That is how habits form — through consistent, persistent effort.
We have to make sure our habits promote good, not evil.
Somerville reminded us that there are numerous avenues that lead to the heart. That is a lot of places to guard. He wrote, “So nice and delicate are the heart’s springs of action, so susceptible is it of impressions from external objects, and so greatly is it in danger of being disordered by means of these, that we can never be sufficiently apprised of the manner in which it may be kept with safety.”
Resource
We have to watch because the challenges are both internal and external. We may like to think we are only challenged by things we can see in this world.
That isn’t true.
Some of our challenges come from within. We have to guard our thoughts and feelings.
Why Is This So Important?
“For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back — and I would heal them” (Mt. 13: 15 CSB)
Our hearts by nature are wicked.
Let’s put it all together. It is important that we guard our hearts. Since the original sin, our hearts have been wicked.
But remember we said that our hearts control our lives. Our character is housed there.
Once our hearts are regenerated, we have to be diligent in keeping Satan out. We form habits to shut him down.
Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal requickening in us that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Making the Connections
Our hearts have to be right with God. We can have good habits but still not have the heart of God.
Too many people don’t see the need to give our hearts to God. They will have all of eternity to regret that decision.
How Do We Apply This?
- Corral our thoughts, continually focusing them on God.
- Evaluate our thoughts and correct any that are leading us away from God.
- Evaluate our hearts to know our tendencies and desires to ensure they are within God’s requirements.
- Determine our strengths and weaknesses.
- Maintain purity and loyalty within our hearts.
- Watch the company we keep.
- Study our hearts so that we may know it.
- Keep active doing what is right.
- Resist temptation
- Determine our strengths and weaknesses.
- Imagine that we are in God’s presence,
- Hold our hearts accountable for its mistakes.
- Gain more knowledge of God.
- Focus on God instead of depending on ourselves.
Resources
Father God. We long to be motivated by Your plans for us. We seek to do Your Will in all things. Help us to evaluate our hearts, and please cut out all sin that is found here. Amen.
What do you think?
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