No Pretense

God sees our heart. We could fake faithfulness and obedience in all apperances toward men but we could never fake it towards God. “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” -1 Samuel 16:7. We can easily be deceived. But never God. He does not see as men sees. He does not think as we think. He sees the intention of our heart. He knows when our faithfulness is genuine or not. Whoever follows after Him should live in sincere obedience. This is what Jesus required of us. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” -Luke 10:27.

Action speaks louder than words. When God spoke of the unfaithfulness of Israel, He said of them, “Have you not just now called to me, ‘My father, you are the friend of my youth— will he be angry forever, will he be indignant to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could.” – Jeremiah 3:4-5. And again, about the faithlessness of Judah, “Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.” -Jeremiah 3:10. There are times when we treat obedience to God in this way. We call Him Father and a Friend, but they are empty words. Our actions do not reflect that God is the Father we adore and love nor is He the Friend we treasure and respect. “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,” – Isaiah 29:13. There is no amount of pretension that we could do to hide what is in our heart even with the long, earnest-like prayers we do. We could not sugar-coat our way to God because we are an open book to Him. God knows the secrets of the heart (Psalm 44:21). Our actions would always speak louder than the words we speak and profess regardless how beautiful they may sound to the ears. So Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” -Matthew 7:21.

God can heal our faithlessness. Indeed, God never changes. He is the same even when time changes and progresses. God remains holy, loving, faithful, and merciful. “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord.'” -Jeremiah 3:12-13. Yes, God gets angry. But He does not remain angry for all time. He looks at our faithlessness with mercy. But that mercy accompanies a requirement. We have to acknoweldge our guilt and our sins before Him. God said to Isarel, “Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.” -Jeremiah 3:22. Who can restore us and put us right with God? Only God Himself. When Jesus came to die and resurrected for man’s sins, He did just that. God Himself offered the way to make us right to Him through the death of Jesus. Through Jesus, we can be healed of guilt and healed of sin. Through Jesus we are healed of our faithlessness. He is still the One who can make us return to Him with faithfulness. We only need to come to Him and admit of our faults and sins. We need to acknowledge that He alone can heal, restore, and redeem. This is what King David, the man after God’s own heart, knew when Prophet Nathan rebuked him for his sin when he coveted Bathsheba. Bathsheba, a wife of King David’s soldier, got pregnant by David and not only that, David plotted out Uriah’s death to keep his sin a secret. What did King David do? He committed adultery and He murdered Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:1-27). When King David ralized his sin, this is his prayer, “Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” -Psalm 51:10-12. God is always willing to help us out. We only need to come to Him with contrite heart just like King David. Do not despair with guilt but let God wash away your guilt and heal you of your faithlessness.