God Wants Your Heart
"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." - Ezekiel 36:26
It is easy to think of faith as a list of rules. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not commit adultery. Keep the commandments and you are good with God, right? But if you stop there, you miss the deeper truth. God never wanted people just to follow rules. He wanted their hearts.
When Jesus teaches in Matthew 5, He shows that the commandments were never just about outward actions. You can avoid killing someone, but if your heart is filled with hatred and anger, you have missed God’s intent. You can avoid adultery, but if your heart is filled with lust, you have missed God’s design.
God is not after empty obedience. He is after transformation. He wants to shape your heart to reflect His love, His purity, and His compassion. Rules can change behavior, but only God can change a heart.
It is not that the rules are bad. The commandments are good. They show us what God values. But they were always meant to point us to something greater. They are like signposts pointing us to the kind of people God wants us to become. People who do not just avoid hurting others but actively love and forgive. People who do not just keep themselves from outward sin but allow God to purify their thoughts and desires.
Today, God is still inviting you to something deeper. He does not just want your outward compliance. He wants your heart. He wants to heal what is broken, soften what is hard, and strengthen what is weak.
Ask yourself today. Am I just following the rules, or am I letting God shape my heart? When you let God work on your heart, you will find that obedience flows from love, not duty. And you will reflect the beauty of a life that is truly transformed by Him.
It is easy to think of faith as a list of rules. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not commit adultery. Keep the commandments and you are good with God, right? But if you stop there, you miss the deeper truth. God never wanted people just to follow rules. He wanted their hearts.
When Jesus teaches in Matthew 5, He shows that the commandments were never just about outward actions. You can avoid killing someone, but if your heart is filled with hatred and anger, you have missed God’s intent. You can avoid adultery, but if your heart is filled with lust, you have missed God’s design.
God is not after empty obedience. He is after transformation. He wants to shape your heart to reflect His love, His purity, and His compassion. Rules can change behavior, but only God can change a heart.
It is not that the rules are bad. The commandments are good. They show us what God values. But they were always meant to point us to something greater. They are like signposts pointing us to the kind of people God wants us to become. People who do not just avoid hurting others but actively love and forgive. People who do not just keep themselves from outward sin but allow God to purify their thoughts and desires.
Today, God is still inviting you to something deeper. He does not just want your outward compliance. He wants your heart. He wants to heal what is broken, soften what is hard, and strengthen what is weak.
Ask yourself today. Am I just following the rules, or am I letting God shape my heart? When you let God work on your heart, you will find that obedience flows from love, not duty. And you will reflect the beauty of a life that is truly transformed by Him.
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