Do Our Words and Heart Match?

There is an old joke about a pastor asking children a question during a Children's Sermon one Sunday morning. He asked if any of the children knew what was brown, had a long furry tail, climbed trees and ate nuts. One boy raised his hand and said, "I know that the answer is suppose to be Jesus, but it sounds like a squirrel to me."

We are not so different than that little boy. We know that certain words at church always seem like the right thing to say. As a result, regardless of the question, the answer must be "Jesus," "sin," "forgiveness," "the Bible," or "God."

Many adults talk as if they are followers of Jesus by using the right words and phrases that seem to belong to a person of faith. Too often though the words spoken and the life being lived just don't match. Jesus confronted the Pharisees for this very thing. He quoted from Isaiah 29:13 as Matthew records the words of Jesus in Matthew 15:8-9.

"This people honor me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."

In other words, while the vocabulary sounds right, the meaning is not consistent with the Word of God. Another way to view it is that what they say and what they do simply do not match. A person may speak a religious sounding language while his heart is void of faith. My intent is not to call names because I do not personally know the depth or lack of depth of another person's faith. However, there is rarely a week that goes by that the television does not have a news report or an interview with a celebrity, a politician, or a person of influence who will be thankful to God, or ask for God to bless a nation or a group of people, or encourage prayer for a cause or need but whose public and visible life has no appearance of being a person who lives a life of faith in Jesus Christ. Their lips and heart don't match.

When I was 10 years old in the fourth grade, our teacher had our class recite Psalm 19:14 every morning as school began. The words of that verse made an impression on my life that I still value.

"Let the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."

The Psalmist David was saying in that verse what I am trying to convey in this article - let my words and my heart match. I want to live the truth of my faith and speak of it clearly and accurately. Maybe we think it is possible to have people believe what we say even if we don't believe it ourselves. While some may fall for that, God does not. He knows what is in our hearts - what we believe - before we ever open our mouths. One of my seminary professors shared a passing comment in class one day - "When it is just you and God, there is no need to lie."

One of the chorus-type worship songs that I really find meaningful was written by Laurie Adams-Klein. She said that the words were the first ones out of her mouth one morning as she spoke "I Love you Lord."

"I LOVE YOU LORD"

I love You Lord

and I lift my voice

to worship You

Oh my soul rejoice.

Take joy my King

in what You hear,

let it be a sweet, sweet sound

in Your ear.

Our worship of God is not to be a collection of words we think we should say. Our worship of God is to flow out of our hearts proclaiming the love and faith we hold in Jesus Christ.

What will our lips speak this week? Will our words match our heart's faith? Our world needs to both hear and see true faith in Jesus Christ being proclaimed and lived before them every day. May we each be part of those speaking and living the truth found only in Jesus.