God Looks on the Heart
This week I received an object lesson on the fact that
God looks on the heart.
One morning as I was squeezing oranges for breakfast, a
regular healthy habit, I noticed that many of the oranges
that I was squeezing had rather ugly spots and blemishes on
the outside skin. But when I cut them open they looked
beautiful on the inside and rendered an abundance of sweet
juice.
However one orange that I cut in half had a black spot of
spoilage right in the middle. I rejected it and threw it in
the compost pile because I didn't want it to ruin the good
taste of the other orange juice that I had already made.
This particular orange looked good on the outside with
hardly a blemish, and even though a lot of the inside looked
good, the dark spot of rottenness in the middle made it a
reject.
Even so, we may have an attractive outward appearance and
even perform a lot of worthy acts of kindness, but if we
have an evil heart of unbelief, we will still be rejected.
"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear
me." Psalm 66:18
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God, but
exhort one another daily, while it is called To day, lest
any of you be hardened though the deceitfulness of sin. For
we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of
our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, To
day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as
in the provocation" Hebrews 3:12-13
"But the Lord said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance,
or on the height of his stature: because I have refused him:
for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looks on the
outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." 1
Samuel 16:7
George W. Romer