The other day around suppertime, some friends of ours were on their way over. Our refrigerator had died in the middle of the night, and our friends were going to help us get rid of the old one and pick up the new one I’d bought. In order to feed everyone, I decided to order pizza. My kids were well aware that I was planning on calling for pizza. In fact, they were ecstatic.
And that’s important for you to know—that they knew pizza was on its way. Because twenty-five minutes later, I heard Kenny call to me, “Mom, someone’s at the door, and I don’t know who it is.”
“You don’t know who it is?” I asked him, puzzled.
“Nope,” Kenny said. “But he’s wearing red and blue.”
At this point, I realized who our visitor had to be. “Is he carrying pizzas?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Jessica.
“Then it’s probably the pizza guy,” I said.
I would have thought that would be obvious—a guy in a recognizable uniform (we’ve seen it many times before) standing on our porch holding a stack of pizzas. I mean, he probably wasn’t a robber. He probably wasn’t some random stranger looking for directions, or somebody selling magazines. He was probably—remember that he was holding plenty of pizzas—the pizza guy everybody knew was coming.
I found the incident funny. It can be cute when kids don’t realize something that’s obvious.
On the other hand, it’s not so cute when you and I don’t realize something God says should be obvious to us.
Some things, we will never fully understand until we get to heaven. Like the nature of the Trinity, for example. We’ll spend all eternity learning about them.
Some things, God may choose never to tell us, like the reasons behind some of His plans, actions, or seeming inactions.
But other things, He’s made glaringly obvious.
Let’s talk today about just one of those things—the fact that when we sin, it reflects the reality that our heart’s not right before God in that area. You and I may be aware of our sins, but rarely do we stop to consider that our sins reveal a heart that needs to be cleansed.
Over and over in the Bible, we’re told that what’s in the heart is vitally important—that everything else in life springs from that. So when something bad springs from our lives, it means that our heart is bad, at least in part.
When I snap at my kids, my heart isn’t right. When I nag my husband, my heart isn’t right. When I fail to make it a priority to spend time with God, something is definitely out of whack in my heart.
Oh, we have plenty of excuses. I’m tired. I don’t have time. He/she deserved it. But instead of making excuses, we need to look at what it is in our heart that would have caused us to do or say such a thing (or fail to do or say something).
Is there selfishness in our heart? Anger? Malice? Any of those things we’re told repeatedly to put far from us?
When we sin, it ought to send up a red flag for us that our heart needs some work. We should examine our heart, asking God’s help to search out the sin. And then we should repent.
When we look at our sin, it should be just as obvious that our heart has a problem as it is when looking at a guy in uniform carrying pizzas that the pizza guy is standing at the door.
Luke 6:45—The good [mom] brings good things out of the good stored up in [her] heart, and the evil [mom] brings evil things out of the evil stored up in [her] heart. For out of the overflow of [her] heart [her] mouth speaks. (NIV)
Proverbs 4:23—Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (TNIV)
1 Peter 2:1—So put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander.