Is Your Heart Reflecting the Father’s Heart?

Before we examine our own hearts, let’s take a moment to think about what is in God’s heart, since this is the standard. What I have noticed in our culture is a mischaracterization of who God is and what is in his heart. On one hand, we present an angry God who is looking at what is happening in our society and can’t wait to exercise judgment on these wicked, corrupt people. Some believers are even praying for God to bring this forceful type of judgment.

On the other hand, we present a God who is all loving, which gets interpreted as a license to live however you want because he will accept anything we offer him. Both of these at best are inaccurate and incomplete representations of who God is and what is in his heart. If you want to know what is in God’s heart, we have an example we can turn to: Jesus. When you see what is in Jesus’ heart you will see a perfect reflection of what is in the Father’s heart. Here are four things that reflect the Father’s heart that we see in Jesus.

1. Compassion

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things” (Mark 6:34).

So often, the imagery we see of Jesus is one of compassion. Just for clarity’s sake, compassion is not just feeling bad about a situation. Compassion is when you are so moved by a person’s situation that it forces you to act on their behalf.

In this verse in Mark, Jesus saw the misguided people and his compassion led him to begin to teach them. There are other verses where his compassion moved Jesus to feed the multitude or heal the sick. Generally, whenever Jesus was moved with compassion, it caused him to act. Jesus’ compassion is a perfect mirror of the compassion we see in the Father’s heart.

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John 8 is a great example of the grace of God in action. This is the story of the woman caught in adultery, which was an offense worthy of death according to the law. I will leave out the fact that it takes two to commit adultery, and somehow the man was not being stoned with her. In this moment this woman’s sin was on display and worthy of judgment. Yet Jesus responded differently.

“When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin’” (John 8:7-11).

Granted, we know from the story they were trying to trap Jesus, but that does not excuse the fact this woman was caught in sin. Instead of responding with judgment, he offered grace. Here is what the Bible says about our God.

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities”

(Psalm 103:8-10).

Please pay close attention to the attributes flowing from God’s heart: compassion, grace, patience, love and not treating us as we deserve or seeking to repay us according to the sins we have committed. Clearly grace is something that flows from the Father’s heart.

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If we are going to be complete in our understanding of who God is, then we must know that while God is compassionate, he is also a God of justice.

“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers’” (Matthew 21:12-13).

The reason I bring up this verse is because we know God does get angry over sin, because Jesus did. However, when Jesus walked the earth, his greatest anger over sin was reserved for those who were the religious leaders and teachers of the law. In other words, the ones who had the word, knew the word, and taught the word were most often the object of Jesus’ anger over their sin.

Just two chapters later in Matthew 23, he rips into the Pharisees and teachers of the law, exposing them as hypocrites and calling them - among other things - blind guides. These were clearly wolves in sheep’s clothing who did not have the people’s interest at heart. Maybe it’s time to stop positioning God as ready to judge the world and see him as one who is ready to judge his people, because we are the ones who should know better. 

4. Mercy

One of the greatest pictures of God’s mercy and what is in his heart is seen by what Jesus said on the cross.

“When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they divided up his clothes by casting lots” (Luke 23:33-34).

Let’s not overlook these words. Jesus was falsely accused, beaten, mocked, spit upon, and ultimately hung on a cross between two criminals. How did he respond? Father forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing. He could have been angry and called down judgment from heaven, but instead he responded with mercy. When he had every right to be angry for what was happening, mercy flowed out of his heart.

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I believe it is safe to say the things that flowed out of Jesus’ heart are the same things that God wants to flow out of our hearts. Here is what we are reminded of from Scripture:

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12-14).

My simple question to you is how is your heart measuring up? Can you honestly say you are following God’s heart? I know it is easy to point a finger at another person and say but look at what they did, or what they said, or how they are responding in this situation. If you are going to follow God’s heart the response should be compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, mercy, and love. Isn’t it interesting that these are the exact qualities that Jesus demonstrated for us while he walked this earth?

If we as the body of Christ are not putting on the things Paul mentions in Colossians, then that means we will put on divisiveness, anger, selfishness, pride, arrogance, and self-righteousness. If we do this, we are never going to impact the world with the gospel. We will become like those Pharisees and teachers of the law who had the word, knew the word, and taught the word. Remember Jesus called them hypocrites and blind guides.

The world is in desperate need of men and women who will truly follow God’s heart and be the kind, compassionate, humble, gentle, loving believers that truly reflect the character and person of Christ. Don’t get me wrong, there will come a day when God will judge sin on the earth, but that day is not today, and more importantly that should not be our prayer. God’s heart is not to rush to judgment but to rush to offer mercy and grace. Remember this about his heart:

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

As I close this article, let’s remember that we are Christ’s ambassadors on the earth. When you say you belong to Christ, then people are forming their opinion about who Jesus is from looking at you. When they see you, are they seeing someone who is following God’s heart, or do they see something else? Let it be that the heart of Christ would come bursting through your life and that we would represent Jesus well in our time here on earth.

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