Wouldn't it be great to have the best of both worlds? Imagine this, a yearly salary of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and only having to work twenty hours a week to get it? Sounds good, doesn't it? The deal gets even sweeter when your employer throws in eight weeks of vacation, annually. AAHHH! Doesn’t just the thought of that make you want to kick your feet up on the coffee table and sing, “Yesirrrrr, That’s what I’m talking about”?
Although I know that is a reality for some people, I’m even more certain it is not for most of us. However, I cannot think of one person that wouldn't enjoy that reality. We all would like to, as the saying goes, “Have our cake and eat it too.” In other words, people inherently want maximum benefit with minimum sacrifice. That is just how we are. We fantasize about the chiseled body; however, the thought of exercise or a diet is less like a thought and more like a nightmare to us. We crave for someone incredibly fine and equally as talented to be 100% committed to a relationship with us, but we cringe at the mere mention of monogamy. We love the idea of weekly shopping sprees, although we are convinced that budgets and savings plans are two of the seven deadly sins. We absolutely love to reap, but if we could have it our way we would never sow.
Generally speaking, people think all take and no give. Well, at least we are not giving more than what we are comfortable with. If you look at the lives of people across the spectrum, you will recognize how we work long and hard to make sure that we can have it all, but give up as little as possible. This natural desire left untamed, can ruin opportunity after opportunity and relationship after relationship, but I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that.
Sad to say, but our relationship with God can and often does suffer the greatest lost because of this drive to get without giving. People are notorious for wanting all of God's blessings while shrugging off and making excuses for failing to meet God's expectations. By doing this, we only deceive ourselves. Apparently, some of us are unaware that excuses do the most harm to the people that issue them.
I haven’t seen the stats, but I bet the excuse “God knows my heart “ is the reigning king of all excuses. Even though I’m not 100% certain it’s the number one excuse; I am certain it is one of the oldest. Jesus (God) shows us in the Word that it didn't work then and it doesn't work today. He dismisses this ridiculous notion several times through the Word of God.
In Luke 6:45-46 Jesus says, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?”
Then He followed this teaching with another to bring further clarity.
He says in Mark 7:20-23,"What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean. For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "
You see, when people say, “God knows my heart” it is to insinuate that what is in their heart is good, despite the fact they are disobeying God outwardly. As tempting as that may be to believe, it contradicts what Jesus taught. Jesus taught that what is in your heart is seen by what you do. If we were honest with ourselves, we would not have a hard time understanding this principle. We all would agree that if someone said that he or she loved you, but consistently treated you like crap, never considered you, and hurt you every opportunity they got; it would be safe to assume that person does not love you at all.
Truth be told, the “God knows my heart “excuse is just another example of people wanting to have their cake and eat it too. People just naturally want the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, in this case of people wanting God’s benefits, but none of His instruction, it won’t happen. We can’t have it both ways, and the excuses fool no one but the person who uses it. Sorry to be the one to make the announcement, but if you are with God, you will have to act like it. You won’t be perfect at it, who is? But in high school no one required us to make perfect grades to be considered a good student, we only had to give a genuine effort. God only requires us to honor what we say we believe and give genuine effort to follow Him and He’ll be there to pick us up every time we fall short.