The Genuine Heart For The Lord
Daily Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 64-66
Daily Focus Passage: Isaiah 66
The Lord desires for people to long for him and live for him. A life dedicated to the Lord appears opposite to what the world expects. The world calls on people to serve themselves, live in pride, and define their truth. As Isaiah closes his prophecy, he declares that the Lord seeks one with a genuine heart. A genuine heart comprises humility, a contrite spirit, and trembles at God’s Word. The Lord seeks the same heart today.
SEEK HUMILITY
People struggle with the temptation to make themselves an idol—the worship of the self-centers on the development of pride in one’s life. The world glorifies the presence of pride and fuels the flame of elevating the self above others and holding what one believes as a more important reality than anything else. Yet, this approach to life flows from the nature of the flesh and is counter to the genuine heart that seeks the Lord. The genuine heart of a believer must lead them to seek humility. When we live in humility, we seek to think of others more highly than ourselves and understand our true minute nature in the presence of the Lord. The overflow of humility worships the Lord because humility recognizes his holiness and glory.
HAVE A CONTRITE SPIRIT
The world encourages people to glorify sin and to redefine truth to gain approval for sin. This activity occurs as people attempt to numb the feeling of guilt in life when they participate in activities counter to the ways of the Lord. The child of God must develop a contrite spirit and not attempt to live in a manner of justifying sin. A contrite heart leads one to repentance and seek forgiveness from the Lord. A contrite heart experiences the guilt and pain of sin and, as a result, propels the individual to seek reconciliation from the Lord. The prophet Isaiah states clearly that the follower of the Lord must live in humility and hold a contrite spirit.
TREMBLE AT GOD’S WORD
People of the world attempt to lessen the power of God’s Word by calling it old-fashioned and out of touch with today’s world. Such an approach becomes the calling card for people to oppose the Word instead of trembling before it. The child of God must strive for the Word of God to lead them to trembling before the Lord. The trembling occurs as the believer engages the truth and thus becomes convicted of their sin, amazed by God’s holiness, grateful for God’s forgiveness, and in awe of God’s revelation.
Believers must seek to develop a genuine heart for the Lord. They must seek to hold a proper mentality of the self and live in humility. They must develop a contrite spirit and allow that spirit to guide them in obedience and repentance. They must seek to engage God’s Word and let it leave them in awe and trembling. When you consider your heart, would it be genuine for the Lord or seeking the self?
