It Takes Heart

1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
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 man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."


I am sure I am not alone when I say that I was moved by the performance of Canadian Olympic figure skater Joannie Rochette.  To the casual observer who happened to walk by a bank of television sets on their way to the widget department at the local department store, they would have seen a talented female figure skater.  But to those who were following the story, they would have seen something entirely different.

Just two days before this performance in the pressure cooker of Olympic competition, Joannie's mother suddenly died.  Her mother had just arrived in Vancouver to watch her daughter perform.  So what I saw in Joannie Rochette was the heart of an Olympian.  What I saw was the heart of a courageous woman.  What I saw was a heart that was broken by grief.

God is more than a casual observer of the heart.  In Biblical terms the heart is "not only the center of all spiritual activity, but of all operations of the human life." (Easton's Bible Dictionary).  It is our innermost being. It is like the computer code that makes us do and say the things we do and say.  It is the place that God desires to dwell (1 Cor 3:16) and do His redemptive work.

We admire talented athletes.  We wish we could look as handsome or beautiful as the figure skaters we have watched on TV.  We wish we could benefit financially from endorsement contracts like Olympic medal winners.

But what would our lives look like if what rules our hearts is the overwhelming desire that everything we say and do is to glorify God?  How different would our lives look than they do right now?  Would our lives move people to seek God for themselves?