Selfish Heart or God's Heart

Don’t Trust Your Heart

Jeremiah 17:9–10 NLT

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

Zechariah 7:11–12 NLT

“Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the Lord of Heaven’s Armies was so angry with them.

There are consequences for a selfish heart.

Zechariah 7:13–14 NLT

“Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert.”

Matthew 5:22 NLT

But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.

Now what is God’s heart?

Kind and Compassionate

Psalm 116:5 NLT

How kind the Lord is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours!

Psalm 86:15 NLT

But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

Unconditional, Relational Love

Jeremiah 31:33 NLT

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Joel 2:12–13 NLT

That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. ......... Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.

Your heart towards people reflects your heart toward God.

John 13:34 NLT

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

John 13:35 NLT

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”