Heart Matters

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”  Micah 6:8

I used to pride myself on being a fairly “principled” person. Google defines a principled person as someone “acting in accordance with morality and showing recognition of right and wrong.”  A principled person can be described as a person of integrity, upright, virtuous, honorable, and incorruptible.  They possess a serious bend towards justice and a strong regard for what’s ethical and respectable.  Others admire those who are principled because they are responsible, respectable, and reliable.  What’s not to like about this kind of person?

My sentiments exactly! I definitely embraced this strong character trait I thought I was so blessed to possess.  Being a principled person meshed well with my analytical, logical, and dogmatic personality.  I was proud of the fact that I had the wherewithal to relinquish incredible opportunities and forgo immediate gratification when it came to “the principle of the matter.”   My husband once told me one of the things he admires most about me was when I took a stand on something no one and nothing could move me from it.  Lovely right?! When it came down to it, I almost always took the high road-the one that said principle first and foremost-no matter what else was at stake.  However, the problem is that we don’t live in a clear cut world.  There are many factors to every situation and every circumstance.  As such, there’s no way for a person, even the most respectable principled of persons, to know when standing on principle is the right thing to do or when there’s something even greater at stake.  Principled people are normally looking at the situation from an limited and temporal view.  God wants us to look to Him so that we can see things clearly-with an eternal view.  God wants His children to understand that His purpose is always more important than our principle.

There’s a saying that goes something like this: “take a stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”  When it comes to the intricacies of life, we all have our subjective set of principles by which we live.  However, the very thing we can be admired for by some, we can be despised of by others.  Standing on my principle often became a matter of perspective.  As a “principled person” I would find myself screening everything through my principled, justice-bent filter. If someone asked me to inconvenience myself to do something for them: I first had to figure out whether or not they could have actually done it themselves,(even if they had to stretch themselves to do so), before asking me to.  It wasn’t that I was being selfish, it was that I would never ask someone to do something for me unless I absolutely exhausted every means available to do it for myself.  Do you see the principle?  If someone asked me to sacrificially give something to them: I had to first figure out if they sacrificed enough to try to get it on their own or even if they really needed it.  It wasn’t that I was being stingy, it was that I’d do without to my best ability before I’d asked someone to sacrificially give to me. See the principle at work here?  We all know there are people out there who are opportunistic, lackadaisical moochers when it comes to taking and receiving from others. Especially when it comes to those of us who love to give and bless others.  There are people out there who are lazy who will “eat and drink for tomorrow we die” but then tomorrow arrives and they’re still here asking you to divide and share what you have for that day.  In turn they wind up having their full portion the day before and half of yours the next day! LOL! Get the point?

Filtering things through principle can also serve as a means of protection. Protection from injustice, unfairness and anything else we’d consider treacherous or abusive.  So those of us who are principled oriented, we can take some pretty serious stands.  As a result, those who are constantly challenging our so called principles begin to see us in a way that can be described as anything but admirable. They begin to view us as selfish, self righteous, and sanctimonious people who have allowed our principles to cloud our conscience and convolute our sense of compassion. Complicated isn’t it?  It can be, but hey that’s life.  If we know saying “no” will prevent us from enabling someone then we need to stand.  If we know always coming to someone’s rescue will forever prevent them from flying on their own then we need to stand.  If we know not drawing proper boundaries will cause us to misrepresent Christ then we need to stand.

The key word is “know”.  How can one “know” these things?  How can one know anything? Through Christ alone of course!  Jesus can and will tell us when to stand on principle and when to surrender to His purpose.  The right thing to do in regards to principle can be the wrong thing to do for His purpose.  He’ll let us know whether or not our principle opposes or supports His purpose.  Only the Lord knows when we need to sacrificially give over and over again to show someone (who previously took advantage of us no less) the love of Christ.  Only the Lord knows when we should indulge someone in an unreasonable request which has been made with absolutely no consideration for us.  Only the Lord knows when we should be silent even though our words could make the person come correct and give us our due respect.  Only the Lord knows when we should subject ourselves to uncomfortable service for someone who is either oblivious or ungrateful.  We have to remember its not about us-it’s all about HIM!

God is working out His purposes in and through us.  We cannot let our principle get in the way!  Here’s a couple of scriptures to help us out in this area.  In Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who hired laborers for his vineyard.  He agreed to pay the first laborers a denarius for a day’s work and they agreed. Throughout the day the landowner hired others who agreed to work for whatever he deemed to be fair.  He even hired laborers at the eleventh hour.  When the day was over and it was time to pay them their wages, the landowner called for those he hired last to pay them first.  As the laborers who were hired first witnessed those hired last each receiving a denarius they reasoned they would receive even more.  After all, they had worked longer and bore “the burden and the heat of the day.”  When they realized that all they were going to get was the same that the late comers got, well they became indignant!  See they were standing on a logical principle.  Since they had worked the most they expected to receive more.  Some of the the other laborers had worked only a few hours.  Others only worked 1 hour!  Yet they all received the same wages.  It didn’t seem right or fair.  They felt so secure in “the principle of the matter”  they didn’t hesitate complaining to the landowner.  But this landowner wasn’t having it.  He had a purpose for what He did and they were in no position to question Him.  He rebuked them and set them straight without even telling them what his purpose was.  The landowner stood his ground.  He told them that he wasn’t doing anything wrong.  He reminded them that they agreed to work for a denarius so they should take it and go their way. He told them that he wished to give the last man the same as he gave them.  He asked them was it not lawful for him to do what he wished with his own things.  He asked if their eye was evil because he was good.  You see how we see things through our principle isn’t always in aligned according to the purposes of God.

I love the apostle Peter!  John MacArthur said Peter was such a leader that he asked Jesus more questions than any other disciple.  He said he believed Peter followed so closely behind the Lord, taking in all that He did, that when Jesus stopped suddenly Peter would run straight into Him!  It was Peter who questioned the Lord when Jesus told him what kind of death he would suffer for Him.  John 21:18-22  Jesus said to Peter “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”  This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God.  And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”  So Peter’s just been told by the Lord that he would die by being crucified.  Check out Peter’s response:  “Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”  Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?  You follow Me.”  Peter was like hey if you’re going to allow me to be crucified for you, what about John?  What will he be called to do for you?  Peter was standing on the principle that He expected God to be fair between them.  Both Peter and John closely followed the Lord.  Peter chose a close counterpart and questioned The Lord about His plans for him.  But once again, the Lord wasn’t having it.  He told Peter basically what business is it of yours if I let him live till I return.  This wasn’t the Lord being cruel or uncaring to Peter, this was the Lord correcting Peter.  He was showing Peter that we can’t follow Him if we’re too busy looking around to see what other believers are being called to do. 

We can’t properly serve Christ is we’re too busy seeing if others are also being called to sacrifice and suffer in their service.  We can’t accomplish His purposes if we’re all about our principle. Remember the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10?  Both the priest and the Levite saw the half dead man and yet they both passed him by.  I’m willing to bet there was a certain principle they held tightly to which they used to justify not helping that poor man.  What about the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery in John chapter 8?  The scribes and Pharisees who were ready to stone her quoted the law of Moses hoping to trap the Lord and find something to accuse Him of.  What was their principle?  This woman was caught in the act of adultery and deserved to be stoned.  It was the law!  But something greater was at work-the grace of God.  They didn’t realize the law was given to point us to our great need for the Savior.  Now Jesus was there-the fulfillment of the law-ushering in grace.  He purposed to forgive and save her instead of stoning her. Her accusers were more than likely guilty of the very same sins.  We don’t know what the Jesus wrote in the sand but we do know it stopped them in their tracks. Not one of them were willing to cast that first stone.

Being a principled person has it place.  Indeed Christians should be men and women of integrity and moral uprightness.  If we let the principles we adhere to be the biblical principles of the Word of God we will be exactly that!  Jesus can help prevent our humanly principles from poisoning us against love, compassion, mercy, and grace.  He can make sure that our self developed principles don’t pollute us and turn us into self righteous hypocrites who think we can live holy on our own and apart from His power working in and through us. Instead our Christian principles should cause us to “to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

HEART TO HEART:  IF YOUR HEART IS RIGHT WITH GOD YOUR PRINCIPLE WILL SERVE HIS PURPOSES