What is Truly Seen

What is Truly Seen

by David Brenneman 

"And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God." Luke 16:15.

"...but God knows your hearts..."

What does that say to you?  

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, To give to each person according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds." Jeremiah 17:9-10.

Our ways are forever spread out before our Holy God.  

We are the easiest to deceive...ourselves.  

We are the most selfish when given an opportunity. 

When we aren't trusting in the Lord with all our hearts, our paths are crooked. Proverbs says to: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.".

We cannot know what God knows about us without His explaining it to us. Ever consider that?

We are, by far, the least impartial towards ourselves. We slant our thinking towards our wants and desires. We are in a society that latches onto what feels good in the moment. We are as surrounded by idolatry and hijacked identities as Paul was in the book of Acts when confronted by "an unknown god".

My day yesterday was rather rough.  

Understanding others views of me has always been difficult and yesterday was no exception. What was worse, to me, is being misunderstood...and being able to tell that understanding was not coming soon. 

My heart is laid bare before my God. So is yours.   

Our ways...our reasons for doing this or that...are laid bare before God. 

There's no hiding any justifications behind anything for anything. Jesus knows all your thoughts from afar. He knows your going out and your coming in.  

When we read of everyone doing what was right in their own eyes...it's because Jesus saw into everyone and knew their motivations for doing what they were doing. He knew before they did. Knows when people will not be turning back to Him and who will and under what circumstances. 

"Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered." Genesis 16:13-14.

Our hearts can be ugly places. That's just being real. The light of Jesus Christ illuminates the heart. The work of the Spirit of God in the heart cleans it up. Heals it. Sets it in order.  

By far my heart isn't as good as it could be. By far my heart needs the continual work of the Spirit of God in it daily.  

"Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin." Romans 7:24-25.

"For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith." Romans 12:3. 

Literally...don't trust yourself in how well you think of you. You're not going to look at your sins or your ways in the manner that Jesus does.  

I do have much to think about with regards to the path my life has taken. I want to be found doing whatever it is that God has had in mind for me to be doing. Even if it doesn't look like what I think it should. 

Yesterday was an eye-opener in part. Misperceptions and understandings. God knows my heart...that I am sure of. 

Ask Him yourself to help you see you as you need to be seen by you from His perspective. 

Over the years it's meant giving up things from my life in order to make room for what He wants in it.  

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12.

Be prepared as well...truths about ourselves as revealed by the Spirit sometimes are ugly...sometimes not. Sometimes there's good to be seen that we never really see ourselves. 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6.

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.