“A Right Heart Posture: Decisions and Motives”

How many times have you heard someone say, “God knows my heart?” Maybe you’ve said this many times in life, especially when you wanted to do something that you know was not beneficial to you. The statement is true, but we often say it when we don’t want to do the right thing, as if that statement excuses our wrongdoing. God knows the parts of our hearts that are not yielded to him. Good intentions do not excuse wrong decisions. So when we say, “God knows my heart,” we have to understand that he knows that our human hearts have a tendency to be deceitfully wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). We should seek to have the right heart posture, which helps us to make the right decisions and to see things the way God sees it. There are two main concepts that we need to understand in order to see things the way God sees them and to have a right heart posture: wisdom and a renewed mind.

Proverbs 4:7 says, “The beginning of wisdom is: Get skillful and Godly wisdom. It is preeminent! And with all your acquiring, get understanding (actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation)” (Amplified Bible). In other words, wisdom is the first and most important thing. Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge, experience, and insight to make good judgments and decisions. There are ways in which wisdom can be implemented in any situation. The very first thing that we should do is pray.The Bible tells us to pray for wisdom (James 1:5). A lot of times, we seek everyone’s counsel and opinions except God’s, and perhaps in our hearts, we really don’t want to hear what he is going to say because it doesn’t agree with our flesh or heart’s desire. There is a way that may seem right to us, but God knows a better way (Prov. 16:25). For example, we know that there is a bill coming up that needs to be paid. We go to the mall and see a fur coat that is not on sale. We convince ourselves that we need the coat because the weather has definitely changed. However, we do have 2 or 3 other coats that we can wear, but that one looks warmer. We are faced with a decision: buy the coat or pay the bill, knowing that we only have enough money left for one of those decisions. We tell ourselves that we can be a little late on the bill. Well, now it’s next month, and the bill has doubled (because we owe for this month and last month) with a late fee. Instead of deciding to wear the other coats, now we owe more money. There are even more critical decisions than this for which we must listen to the voice of God. “Don’t go here today,” or “don’t take that contract right now.” Then, we say,” but God you know I was trying to do the right thing,” when in actuality, we know that our reason (motive) for making another decision was based on selfish ambition or fleshly desire.

The second thing that can be done in order to implement wisdom is to seek Godly counsel (Proverbs 15:22). The Godly counsel has to come from those who are mature, well-grounded, and knowledgeable. If we are more mature than all of our friends, something is wrong. We often gravitate toward those who will just say what we want to hear in our flesh instead of those who will help us to grow and be convicted. We must find a community of people that can tell us when we’re wrong (Prov. 27:17). 

The other concept that we need to understand in order to position our hearts correctly is having a renewed mind. Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we can test what God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will is. Only with a renewed mind can we know what God wants us to do. The mind is so important because when something enters our minds, that seed goes down into our hearts. The Bible also says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Isn’t it interesting that it doesn’t say that as a man thinks in his mind? We have to make a conscious effort to transform our thinking so that our hearts will be in alignment with God’s heart. How do we do that? Number one, meditate on scripture. The word of God is a light unto our feet and a lamp unto our paths (Psalm 119:105). When we know the truth that is found in the scriptures concerning any decision that we are to make, we can make the right decision. Meditating on what is true and good positions are minds to be clear, thereby putting our hearts in the right position. This means that eventually, our perspectives will change, then our actions will align with our beliefs. 

As we can see, our hearts and minds are connected. Having the right motives all depend on what is in our hearts. Yes, God knows our hearts, but what exactly is in our hearts? We cannot make that statement when our hearts are in the wrong place. We must also have the right mindset concerning the situation. In the process of decision making, we must exercise wisdom and have a renewed mind that is based on what is true and right.