Almighty God, the "Kardia Gnosis"

Almighty God, the “Kardia Gnosis”

The Lord God Almighty is the supreme “Kardia Gnosis.”  He is the “heart knower.”  In 1 Samuel 16:7, the Holy Spirit rebukes the prophet Samuel.  Under the guidance of God, Samuel traveled to the house of Jesse to find and anoint King Saul’s replacement.  Initially, Samuel interviews the older sons of Jesse.  The prophet allows himself to be seduced by their attractive physical statures, handsome features, fine clothing, impressive voices and commendable external qualities.  With each son, the Holy Spirit tells the prophet that he is not the Lord’s chosen.  As you recall, the Spirit eventually leads the prophet to the youngest son, David, a ruddy, muddy, befreckled, smelly and plain shepherd boy.  The Spirit reminds Samuel, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

God examines the heart to determine whom He uses to spread His gospel and build His kingdom.  He does not consider the resume items of degrees, titles, experience, position, pedigree, salary scale, etc.  In fact, I honestly think that the Lord laughs when we exaggerate our accomplishments and expect Him to be impressed by them.  Really, it is “much to do about nothing” in the eyes of God.  After all, He is the source of “every good and perfect gift.” Frankly, we who are creatures actually insult the Creator by informing Him of talents, gifts and abilities He graciously gave to us.  Talent without faithfulness, commitment and discipline are essentially meaningless.  Therefore, He looks into the closets, corners and crevices of hearts to ascertain whether we possess the requisite spiritual attributes to build His kingdom.

Mainly, God looks for faithfulness in our hearts.  That characteristic distinctly qualifies us for service in the Church, God’s chosen instrument for the transformation of the world.  Some gifted people allow fear, laziness, and procrastination to paralyze them.  They rarely achieve anything substantive in life.  Nonetheless, I posit the Lord bypasses such people when He seeks persons to utilize as the instruments of His peace and the vessels of His love.  Yet, the Lord specially calls people with faithfulness.  The grand “heart knower” looks for this trait in our hearts.

Ancient Israelites considered the heart to be the essence of personhood.  That fact remains to this day!  “Out of the heart flow the issues of life.”  The contents of our hearts more straightforwardly define us than anything we say.  We cannot lie to our hearts.  Additionally, we cannot betray our hearts.  I know people who passed up several chances for advancement because “they did not have the heart” to pursue them.  Recently, a former U.S. Senator from a Southern State retired because he did not have the heart to serve another six-year term.  Likewise in the kingdom of God and the Church, some persons do not possess the right heart for leadership, ordination or promotion.  We face the challenge of acquiring hearts after God’s own heart

God promises to give us a spiritual heart transplant should we be in need of one.  If our hearts wrongly desire the things of the world rather than the things of God, He completely changes our hearts.  He rids them of the self-centered fear.  God assists us to become “other-centered” as we focus upon Him and serve others.  We learn to renounce the acceptable narcissism of the dominant culture.  In Ezekiel 36:26, the Lord offers this grand promise, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

As the “heart knower,” God looks deeply into our character.  More significantly, the Lord looks in our hearts to ascertain whether we really love Him or not.  “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength.”  The “Kardia Gnosis” sees us for who we are!  He does not settle for the external impressions.  Summarily, faith, the combination of belief and trust, is fundamentally a matter of the heart.  It is most clearly evidenced in the actions that emerge from the heart rather than the words that pass our lips.