Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
From a testimony by Sister Sandy.
I have written on Sandy’s experience before, but the remarkable work of the Lord that he did for her can feed us much truth. After Sandy’s wonderful experience of Jesus coming to her and restoring her heart to him, Sandy said she learned that it was not hard seeking that got her in contact with Jesus again but heart seeking.
Sandy is right. I have seen people seeking God very hard, but their heart was not in it, and it accomplished nothing. God promised His people that in the day they sought Him with the whole heart, they would find Him. Our Creator wants the heart to call on His name more than He wants us to engage in hard religious labor.
That is not to say that crying out to God with “strong crying and tears” is wrong; even Jesus did that, and when he cried out so desperately to God, it was completely acceptable and “he was heard”. But it was acceptable because that strong crying and those tears were from Jesus’ heart; they were not part of some religious performance. Out of the heart come the real issues of life, but the whole world is geared toward mere appearances. Men judge everything by the appearance, but God looks on the heart.
Jesus told some of the religious leaders of his day that, in spite of their holy appearance, their hearts were full of corruption. Jesus wanted God’s people to know that it is what is in the heart that counts with God, not how things appear. Of course, when we seek God from the heart, we may well cry out loud to Him, or we may be like Samuel’s mother Hannah, whose lips moved but who made no sound in her desperate search for God; but noise level is only of secondary importance. What matters with God is the heart. He does not respond to mere noise; the prophets of Baal found that out on the top of mount Carmel when they cried out and shouted for hours and hours. But when Elijah simply looked up and, from an humble heart, asked God to show Himself to His people one more time, fire fell from heaven and the sacrifice was consumed.
It is heart seeking, not hard seeking, that gets us in touch with God. Jesus and Sandy said so.