What is Important in Life?
At times I have thought I should put some effort into my career.. At other times I have thought I should put some effort into having a house.. At other times I have thought I should put some effort into getting an education.. What is important in life?
If you have to put some effort into something it sort of makes sense to put the effort into something you will get some benefit from.
Is a job, a house, an education, a career, etc what you need most in life or is it something else?
What is the most important thing in life is probably what is the most important to life.
Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 14:30 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
What is so important about what you want in your heart?
Proverbs 27:19 As water reflects the face, so one's life reflects the heart.
Representing God in your heart leads to life.
You represent God in your heart when you no longer misrepresent God in your heart.
Deuteronomy 6:5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
If you are not careful about what you want in your heart (ie, you don't place importance on it), you can end up misrepresenting God in your heart. Misrepresenting God in your heart helps no one. It is more important to take action to remove what is hurting you than it is just about anything else.
Luke 21:34 Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.
If you have thought something is true when it is not true about God, it can make it more difficult to represent God
John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Titus 3:3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
When you know God in your heart, you will know the truth about Him.
John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
God wants nothing more than He wants you. He wholeheartedly (with all his heart) wants nothing more than you. When you wholeheartedly (with all your heart) want nothing more than God you represent God in your heart.
Joshua 14:8 but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.
Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.
Deuteronomy 30:6 The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
Joshua 22:5 But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
1 Samuel 12:24
But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.
Acts 11:23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.
If you have misrepresented God in your heart. God wants to help you. God wants you to turn back to wholeheartedly (with all your heart) wanting nothing more than you want Him.
1 Kings 8:58 May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors.
Joshua 24:23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
1 Samuel 7:3
So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
1 Samuel 12:20
“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.