Heart Trumps Actions Every Time

Today's Devotions
Genesis 44,45,46
Luke 18


SCRIPTURE
Luke 18:14
"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

OBSERVATION
Jesus addresses a group of people that are proud in their own righteousness. They are good at keeping the Law. They fast, they pray, they keep the commandments, they even keep the oral tradition. And they believe that this righteousness is worthy of honor. As he addresses them, He does not attack their adherence to the law, rather He points out that a heart of humility can cancel out all the righteousness gained through keeping the Law.

APPLICATION
It is so easy to become caught up with the things you do for God. Jesus is not indicating that these things are not important or are unnoticed by God, but that what is important as far as God's forgiveness and justification is a heart of humility. We can think that doing the right things will make God happy and result in us getting into heaven. But it is not the right things that get us in to heaven it is the right heart.

PRAYER
God, help me watch my heart. It is so quickly deceived and becomes obsessed with doing instead of being. Forgive me for being fixated on the behavior and seeing that as the most important. Help me instead to guard my heart and stay humble at all times.