Finding the Heart of Jesus

Michael W. Smith’s lyrics to the song, “All About You,” remind us that Jesus isn’t found in our works, even when those are praising or worshiping, unless they are directly in response to Jesus in us.

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus
I'm sorry Lord, for the thing I've made it
When it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus

Finding the heart of Jesus is very personal for me. This imperative is something I’ve wrestled with many times in life in Christ. I will reach a place where I’m walking with Jesus every day. My life is firing on all cylinders; then life becomes more complex, time more compressed. I pray more, read Scripture more, but those begin to become works that I do in place of seeking, finding, resting, and being renewed in Christ. I drift from seeking the heart of Jesus to living by works, and that’s a form of legalism.

A Problem With Legalism

The Apostle Paul addressed the issue of legalism among Jewish Christians. I encourage you to read chapters 1 and 2 of Colossians to gain the full context of these verses, but consider these today.

Colossians 2:16-18 - “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism…”

Paul tells the Jews, and us, that outward religious acts, even if they were valid before Jesus of Nazerith, no longer provide a way for us to draw close to God. Now, the only way is to live in Christ Jesus Himself. It is especially important to understand the lie of asceticism — the denial of material possessions, food, sleep, or entertainment to kill the temptations that would lead us away from God. Asceticism cannot change anyone's soul.

Colossians 2:21-23 - “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”… These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

Finding a cave and living in isolation, as some monks do, will not change us. Only a dynamic, personal, uninterrupted life in Jesus changes who we are. The fire Jesus ignites in us is intended to be shared. We are to be in the world but not of the world.

Here is a Surprise

Finding the heart of Jesus does not just happen, and we cannot achieve it through asceticism. To find the heart of Jesus, we must strip away everything that insulates us from Jesus, our Lord.

Colossians 2:8 - See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

The surprise is that finding the heart of Jesus is achieved through obedience. All of the joy and peace and hope that Jesus desires to give us are accessed through obedience because God sees obedience as love. How do we know this? We know because Apostle John wrote, in 1 John 5:3: “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome”.

My discovery of this surprise should not have been unexpected, but it was. Somehow, when I received Jesus as my Savior, I didn’t make the connection that “living for Jesus” meant “learning His many commands and obeying them.” I was enthralled by His love, but had only a superficial understanding of the responsibilities loving God contained.

Obeying the commandments of Jesus is not about religious acts or legalism. It is about who we are. Jesus laid out, within His commands, a narrow path that shows us not just what we should do but, more importantly, who we should be. Let me expand this point. For Jesus, His focus is on who we are to become, for He sees the end from the beginning.

The Key

So here is the key to finding the heart of Jesus. It is obedience that comes from the changing of our souls by continually being in the presence of the deity of Jesus. We cannot please Jesus by any works we decide to do. We can only find the heart of Jesus by abiding in Him and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us. Our obedience to His commands must be acts of love that come from thankfulness, not forced acts of self-punishment.

You will find the heart of Jesus when you live in Him and He in you. Of becoming like Him. Of learning to live in His kingdom.

To obey is to love and to love is to obey. If we live this way, we will find the heart of Jesus.