You can be obedient on the outside but far from God on the inside.
If there’s one thing I would love to shout from the rooftops, it’s this:
God is after your heart—not just your actions, your words, or your sacrifices.
Too often, I meet mature believers who have fallen into the trap of self-righteousness, believing that what they do for the Lord is more worthy than their relationship with Him.
An excellent example of this can be found in the book of Jonah.
Jonah is considered a prophet and a servant of God. In 2 Kings 14:25 we learn that Jonah prophesied about Israel’s boundaries being restored, and it came to pass exactly as he said.
God spoke to Jonah directly, and Jonah was used to hearing His voice. Jonah identifies himself as a worshiper of the Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the earth (Jonah 1:9). He was probably familiar with God’s Law and lived by it.
What is interesting, though, is that when God decides to save an entire city through Jonah’s call for repentance, Jonah gets angry. He essentially says (and I’m paraphrasing), “I knew You’d pull a stunt like this! I knew You’d forgive, and that’s why I didn’t want to go in the first place” (Jonah 4:2).
Jonah did what God asked, but his heart was hardened.
He wasn’t able to muster up any compassion for the lost people of Nineveh and couldn’t rejoice with God over the thousands being saved (Jonah 4:11).
It is clear that though Jonah was outwardly obedient (eventually), there was no inward surrender.
His heart wasn’t in it.
You can be obedient on the outside and still far from God on the inside.
Where is your heart at?
Do you live in surrender to God and His perfect will, or is there still a part of you that believes God owes you a different outcome in certain areas of your life?
