It's The Heart That Matters

Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart. – 1 Samuel 16:7 (MSG)

When I was young, and my mom’s mother (Mamma) was alive, I remember holding her hand in mine and moving her loose skin around in circular motions.  I found it fascinating that her tissue-paper thin skin was so stretched out and wrinkly that I could move it from one side of her hand to the other, clearly seeing the veins and frail bones underneath.  As a young girl, I imagined that my Mamma’s hands had always looked like that.

But they hadn’t.  At one time, my Mamma’s hands were smooth, taut, and strong. They cooked, cleaned, wrote letters, hung laundry on the clothes line, ironed, picked pears, hugged, and held babies. 

Think for a moment what you do with your hands every day.  Who and what do you touch?  What do you move, hold, or love with your hands?  What do you enjoy doing with them?  Now look at both your hands.  Have they always looked like this?  Are they youthful or wrinkled, strong or frail?  

If your hands are speckled with age spots and wrinkled, there are plenty of anti-aging creams on the market for you.  “Cover-up and tighten up” is what the world tells us to do. But God doesn’t care if we’re wrinkled or smooth, tall or skinny, fat or thin.  He looks into our hearts and deeply cares about what’s inside.

What is inside?

Try this exercise I did with my Bible study a while ago:

• Draw a large heart (your heart) on a piece of paper 
• Divide the heart into 8-10 different sized pieces
• Label each piece with a key word that describes a part of your heart (i.e. Love, Hate, Compassion, Anger, Jealousy, Kindness…)
• Finally, imagine God sitting down to review your work

The first time I did this “Pieces of My Heart” exercise, I compared my heart to what I thought Jesus’ heart would look like.  How far I fell short was a rude awakening.  

What about your heart?  What labels do you need to change?  Let’s align our hearts with God’s and care more about our character than our clothes, cosmetics, or outward appearance.  After all it’s the Heart that Matters Most!

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