Forgiveness, the Heart of God

The heart of God is always true.  It always calls humanity to what is true.  And the paradox is that truth is often enigmatic.  Discerning truth and the correct response are not always straight forward—discernment and correct responses come from a humble heart.

Yes, that’s right, the heart of God specifies what is required as a good response in situations.  The heart of God searches and challenges our heart.  That heart—our motives—behind our STANCE on the situation.  Our heart directs us to right or wrong, wisdom or folly.

A humble heart is found to be right and wise, 
whereas a threatened or selfish heart 
is found to be wrong and foolish.

God searches our hearts, discerning our motives, for wisdom and folly.  “Wisdom is shown to be right by what it does,” said Jesus in Matthew 11:19.  A humble heart directs us along right paths.

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The heart is the absolute centre of God’s universe.

God is most interested in the heart;
less interested in outcomes.

Wherever there is evil,
the heart is culpable.

The heart is responsible for evil,
just as it is capable of good.

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Oh how God’s heart yearns
for all hearts to align to the truth;
for all hearts to be humbled and see truth.

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THE TRUTH HUMBLES US

When a person’s heart aligns with the truth, that truth humbles that person.  This is because a person’s heart sees the truth, and the person sees how far they are from where they would like to be.  They honour the truth.  The truth is reverenced.  And the truth heals that heart.

Truth be told, none of us truly measure up to what is true, only as we choose for truth.  But when we face the truth in humility, our response is not one of shame but of awe.  Humility prepares us to receive truth appropriately.  In humility, truth is freedom, not condemnation.

The truth makes us all better than we were.

The truth blesses us even as it 
humbles us by its goodness.

Do you see how the truth, that can seem horrendous—that can seem like the worst thing ever—is the best thing ever?  Moments like this attest to the wondrous power of God to give us everything we ever needed through a means we always avoided!

There is a sense that truth 
could always be embraced, 
when we can receive it in humility.

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THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HUMAN HEART & WHAT IT NEEDS

British evangelist Canon J. John says, “The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.”  Yes, we ARE made in the image of God.  Yes, we are never-more-precious in His sight.  So much Scripture attests to this.

But our hearts are evidence enough 
of our need of truth, our need of God.

We live in an era where we especially don’t like to admit that our hearts are problematic; an era where there is much resistance to the idea that we human beings are sinners.

Nobody likes to have their heart revealed to them when it is wrong.  Even Christians.

Yet, the moment our heart is humbled is the moment the heart of God comes in to redeem it.  There is nothing more made-in-the-image-of-God-like in a human life than a human life seeing its need of God in these moments.

Somehow it is the truth that reconciles hearts back to God.  At the same time a person responds well to the truth, their heart is shown as healed by the peace of humility.

TRUTH IS THE MIRACLE THAT HUMBLES AND HEALS THE HEART

God can only and will only redeem humbled hearts—as it is written:

“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.”
—Psalm 51:17 (NIVUK)

Even more, God craves humble hearts, hearts that see and honour truth.  God’s heart softens in response to a softened heart, a heart humbled by the truth.

Think about it.  The humbling of a heart is THE condition required of salvation.

The humbling of a heart is also the condition required to truly give and receive love.  A humbled heart opens the door.  This is because it’s only those who party with the truth—who are comfortable, resigned to facing their own truth—who can, in that moment, love.

Truth is the miracle that humbles and heals the heart.
Truth is what opens the human heart to love.
Truth makes the human heart accessible.

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WHAT IS THE HEART OF GOD LIKE?

The heart of God is full of compassion, but the heart of God will also put each of us to the test.  That is because, most of all, God is most interested in our hearts.  And how hard it is to truly KNOW the heart of God!—discerning right action to certain situations in life testifies to the inscrutability of this fact.

The struggle we have as humans knowing the heart of God is explained in the incomprehensibility of suffering in this world.  Nobody has an answer to satisfy the human heart’s longing that justice be perfectly served on this earth.  There is, of course, a Christian theology of suffering called theodicy—the vindication of divine providence despite evil.

Keeping things simple, we know we can trust God.  We know God’s heart is holy and good, and that our goal is to mirror the heart of God, even as we are made in His image.

Knowing God’s heart is perfect, we in our humanity still doubt the goodness of God when we suffer.  This is the revelation of our own hearts in adversity.  Yet suffering is also the circumstance that can transform our hearts when we trust what our faith sees as the truth—that God is good and faithful.

We hardly need to say it, the heart of God is holy and good, even to the extent that God’s heart uses adversity to help us transcend even ourselves.

The miracle in suffering is it 
can sanctify us despite the pain.

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WHEN THE HEART OF GOD BREAKS THROUGH

The heart of God wants the truth to be revealed in each of us; for each of us to be humbled under the weight of it enough that we would see and acknowledge the truth.

The less of a weight required 
to humble us, the better.

The less the weight,
the more the disciple.

Only once we see the truth, only once we stop running from it, does the compassion of God catch up with us.  In the final analysis, we are found only to have been running away from our OWN judgement and condemnation, not God’s.

In God’s truth,
we were acquitted long ago.

God always knew the truth.  God always knew that we needed Him.  And God always knew that we would encounter Him most, and the fullness of His heart of compassion, when we were finally surrendered to the truth.  When we no longer shied away from it.  When we finally came to realise we needed Him, and that it wasn’t His judgement we were running from or were afraid of facing in the end.

When God breaks through upon a heart,
God vindicates that heart,
for that heart knows God’s mercy.

At the precise moment judgement is expected,
God’s mercy breaks through upon the heart.

That, my friends, is GRACE,
living and active from the eternal reaches
into the present day—every day—
into any heart humbled by the truth.

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ABOUT THOSE RESISTING THE HEART OF GOD

One of the saddest realities for those who have accepted God’s heart is there are loved ones, friends, associates, acquaintances, and strangers who still resist God.  Because they are not open to the truth, they have not been humbled, and they stand in enmity against God and others.  They are islands, and purposely so.

But the real test of those who have 
God’s heart is they are repentant.

That might seem a shock in the case of those who seem outwardly not to honour God.  It is people’s attitudes toward the harm they cause and the deeds they do that matters.  That is truth that God is urgently interested in, and those who can face such truth have God’s heart.  Simply put, those who do no harm or repent of the harm they do already have God’s heart.

This can mean some non-Christians, and it can also push some Christians to the periphery.

That’s right, it’s the repentant that set themselves apart to the purposes and heart of God.

THE HEART OF GOD AND FORGIVENESS

The heart of God is merciful, willing to forgive from eternity to eternity.  This heart of God is abundantly more merciful than even our own hearts are toward ourselves.

None of this ought to surprise us because Jesus’ Kingdom is upside down—it favours those that this world does not favour.

The heart of God is found as merciful when it is least expected, when it is anticipated that God’s heart would otherwise condemn.  It is God’s heart that we would receive the truth of forgiveness.

Forgiveness redeems our hope;
it makes us better than we were.

The truth blesses us even as it 
humbles us by its goodness.

As we forgive, 
it makes those we forgive 
better than they were
because of the mercy in grace.

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WE ARE TO EMULATE THE HEART OF GOD

The wisdom, the truth, the heart of God is what we humans are to emulate.

In the simplest possible imperative, we are to LIVE the heart of God by facilitating mercy in the presence of humility.  Wherever we see or encounter or witness truth we are to celebrate such victories.

The heart of God is forgiveness 
where truth is reconciled,
where humility prevails,
and the people receiving
thrive upon a second chance.