All About the Heart

21 ‘I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! 25 ‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? 26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god – which you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,’ says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.
(Amos 5:21-27)


7 ‘You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8 “‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”
(Matthew 15:7-9)


1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 3 Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.’ 5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, ‘Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?’ ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘that is the price.’ 9 Peter said to her, ‘How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.’ 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
(Acts 5:1-11)
Jesus constantly spoke about the heart. When he did, people often got offended because it deeply challenged the hypocrisy in people’s lives (Matthew 15:12). Almost every reference to worship in the Bible is directly addressing the importance of the heart, or God’s disgust at false worship that does not come from a sincere heart. Our 21st century ears feel uncomfortable when we hear it, but God hates superficial worship even when it is looks like the kind of worship we find in the Bible (Amos 5:21-27).

The heart is the centre of our hidden emotional, intellectual and moral activity – it is therefore no surprise that it matters so much to God in our worship. Jesus wasn’t interested in the outward, superficial things that we so often get caught up on in our worship (Matthew 15:8). John Piper says, “...you can do as many deeds as you want and go to as many church services as you want and never be worshipping if it is all external and nothing is happening in your heart towards God. All true worship is in essence a matter of the heart”. Worship really is all about the heart!

In our worship, integrity of heart is what God looks for. Acts 4:32-5:11 teaches us that the issue is not the amount of money that Ananias and Sapphira gave, but the heart-attitude with which they gave it. These verses are not meant to scare us into giving more money away. They are an invitation to enjoy lives of worship that genuinely please God. God is so pleased with your worship no matter how small or insignificant it seems to the human eye, as long as your heart is sincere.

True worship impacts every area of our lives. We live more generously because we love God, who gave everything for us, with all our hearts. We sing, pray and serve with joy because our hearts are overflowing with gratitude. We act justly in the world and serve the vulnerable whole-heartedly because we worship a just God who saved us in our brokenness. We devote ourselves to obeying the Bible’s commands every day because our hearts truly value what God says above anything else. This is what worship from the heart looks like.
1)   Why do you think the integrity of your heart is so important to God?

2)   Being completely honest before God, how is your heart towards him right now?

3)   Ask the Holy Spirit to lovingly reveal to you any areas of your heart that have grown cold towards God. Take a moment to confess anything to God that he brings to mind – Receive his wonderful forgiveness!
Lord, I am thankful that you do not call us to a superficial faith. You have saved us for a life of joyful and sincere worship. Fill me with your Spirit and help me to always worship you with my whole heart. Keep me from worshipping you in vain. And, when I do fall short of this high calling, help me to treasure your grace even more. It is your grace that enables me to say ‘no’ to ungodly things and ‘yes’ to you. Cause my heart to truly treasure you and your glory above anything else. Amen.
Today’s Everyday Devotions were brought to you by Zac Guy, who leads our worship teams.

If you have time, consider carrying on your conversation with God using one of our helpful Prayer Pathways.

Today’s Everyday Devotions have also inspired a devotional video that you can watch on our YouTube channel.

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