There are various Scriptures in the Bible about the attitude of your heart. In Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God". In 1 Samuel 16:7 "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height for I have rejected him'. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." And in Acts 13:22, "After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: 'I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, he will do everything I want him to do.'"
How do these Scriptures apply to us? In my opinion, it is important to reflect on the attitude of our hearts. What is our motivation at the root level? In the past, I tended to want to be controlling, so sometimes the attitude of my heart was to manipulate others for my purposes. I have come to learn that manipulation is not loving, consequently, it is not God's way. On occasion, during my marriage, if I was getting a little off track, my husband would ask me to reflect on the attitude of my heart. When I did, I would realize that I needed to adjust my thinking about something so that my feelings and behavior about it would change and then the attitude of my heart would be aligned to God's desire for the situation.
Another component to being a person after God's own heart is obedience. To be open and teachable to allow God to work within us. As we learn more about God and what He wants to do in our lives, we become more open to be obedient to do His will. For example, in Mark 12: 28-31, Jesus tells us what is most important. "...of all the commandments, which is the most important? The most important one answered Jesus is this...Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these."
Then, lest we love according to our own understanding, in 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8, we are given the specifics of what God's love looks like so that we can emulate that in our own lives. "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
In reflecting on the contents of this post, how is the attitude of your heart? I encourage all of us to think about the attitudes of our hearts and if anything needs to change, to ask the Lord to help. He will.
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