God Help Me Grow and Understand Your Heart

Last updated on: June 13, 2018 at 8:45 pm by KP Yohannan

God Help Me Grow and Understand Your Heart 2018-06-13T20:45:26+00:00 KP Yohannan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In the four Gospels, Jesus talks about forsaking all, giving up everything, not laying up treasures on earth and being willing to walk away from even your own life. First Corinthians 13:3 says, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” Unless the motivation behind the sacrifices we make is love—unselfish and genuinely motivated by God and His grace—our sacrifice profits nothing.

The teachings laid out in books such as True Discipleship1 need to be balanced by those presented in books such as Grace Awakening2. The church at Ephesus made great sacrifices, worked hard and endured difficult times. But the Lord said to them, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent” (Revelation 2:4–5). He said this simply because they had lost the reason for all the sacrifice and work; they had lost their first love: Jesus.

One of the marks of people who serve God with great sacrifice, but without the inner reality of grace and love, is that they criticize and condemn others, putting them down and finding fault. They look at others’ houses and think something is wrong with them for living in such wealth or squalor. They look at their clothes. They look at their kids. They compare and complain and murmur, despising people who may not even have the so-called “deeper life,” or revelations and gifts of the Holy Spirit that they have.

The older son in Luke 15 was much like this. While the younger brother was squandering the father’s wealth with wild living, he was laboring in the field as a full-time worker, sweating away. He was not wasting his father’s money. But he was full of jealousy, anger and bitterness. He had a condemning and unloving spirit. He imagined that his younger brother had done all sorts of wicked sins, such as living with prostitutes, all of which the younger brother may have actually never done. He accused his father. I can imagine him saying, “How can you claim that you are my father and that you love me? I’ve been with you all these years, and you haven’t ever given me a party. Yet my wicked brother returns, and look what you do for him.”

This attitude is the fruit of legalism and Phariseeism. It is sacrifice combined with a hard, unloving heart, and it is no good. That is why it is so important to keep a balance between living a life of sacrifice and extending grace and love to all.

I will not change the message I gave you in The Road to Reality3 about sacrificing comforts and giving up worldly possessions for God’s eternal work. I will not compromise, because I keep telling myself that 100 years from now, earthly possessions aren’t going to matter. But I regret those days when I spoke that message without grace. …

God in His mercy helped me to grow up and understand His heart. Then I learned there are millionaires who love God and serve Him with more commitment than many full-time Christian workers I know.

In Philippians 4:11–12 Paul writes, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (NIV). We must learn to live with this attitude. Simply put, Paul is saying, “If you put me in a five-star hotel, I am very happy. Bring all the best food, the caviar. And if you put me in a no-star hotel, no problem. I am content and happy there, too.”

A Gospel for Asia-supported worker who gave up her own desires to serve those with leprosy.

If you are called by the Lord to be a person of sacrifice, if you are given the grace to give things up, I can tell you, it is wonderful. I could not have given up the things I held on to if it were not for the grace and the love of God. As the Lord is my witness, I found such joy and love in giving them up. I never felt sadness and sorrow in surrendering these things. Instead I got such joy—joy that nothing in the world could give me. It was God’s grace.

We cannot impose His calling for us on others or assume that others are wrong or less mature because they do things differently. It is the Lord’s work in us, not our own doing, that makes us willing and happy to surrender these things.

1 McDonald, True Discipleship.

2 Charles Swindoll, Grace Awakening (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1990).

3 Yohannan, The Road to Reality.

Read the rest of the booklet, A Life of Balance, by Dr. KP Yohannan Metropolitan.

=====

Click here, to read more articles on Patheos by Dr. KP Yohannan Metropolitan.

Go here to know more about Dr. KP Yohannan: GoodReads | Radio | Amazon | About

Previous Post

May 1, 2018

Are We the Kind of People God is Looking For?

Next Post

May 10, 2018 We Must Be Men and Women of Godly Character

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Current Events Devotionals Field Stories From My Books Guest Writer Inspirational Personal Life Spiritual Growth Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2025 June 2024 May 2024 December 2023 October 2023 May 2023 April 2023 December 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 May 2021 March 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz