Live Free with Josh Howerton - Is My Heart Pure for Nothing? | Ep. 386 | Monday, July 29, 2024

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

Have you ever thought being a good person was utterly pointless when you compare your life to someone else living so carefree? Or have you wondered is my heart pure for nothing? Always remember, God's goodness remains steadfast, and those individuals you compare yourself to may not be leading as carefree a life as it seems. When we grapple with feelings of envy, we often fall into the trap of constantly comparing ourselves to others. Envy: When you resent God’s goodness in someone else's life while ignoring God’s goodness in your own. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, happy Monday, everybody. Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive. My name is Mike Bro, and we've been taking a few minutes this summer to add some music to our playlist.

We've been downloading some timeless lyrics from a book in the Old Testament of the Bible called the Book of Psalms. And not all of these, but most were written by a guy named David. And I love his approach in a lot of these. He gets really, really honest with the truth about himself. And then he lands on the truth about God. I mean, he just pours out his feelings, his frustration. his pain like all good songwriters do. But then he lets those honest lyrics land in the character of God. One of the other songwriters is a guy named Asaph, and he also follows this same

pattern in a song that he wrote in Psalm 73. Check this out. You might even see yourself in it. Man, I sure did. He begins, truly God is good to Israel to those whose hearts are pure. But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone. That's the drift, the spiritual drift we've been talking about, that gradual slide. He's saying, I almost lost my footing. I was almost gone. And here's what caused it. Verse three, for I envied the proud.

When I saw them prosper despite their wickedness. I've given you this definition of envy before. Let me throw it out there again. Envy is resenting God's goodness in someone else's life while ignoring his goodness in mind. Envy is resenting God's goodness in someone else's life, while ignoring his goodness in mind. We stop being grateful. We stop counting the ways that we have been blessed.

And we start to focus on the success of other people, and we fall into that stupid and very, very dangerous comparison trap. Well, he gets on a roll with this. You can almost see this guy as he's writing, scrolling through his social media feed. He says, they seem to live such painless lives. Their bodies are so healthy and strong. They don't have troubles like other people.

They're not plagued with problems like everyone else. They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty. These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for. They scoff and speak only evil in their pride. They seek to crush others. They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut throughout the earth. And so the people are dismayed and confused, drinking in all their words. What does God know, they ask?

Does the Most High even know what's happening? happening. Look at these wicked people, enjoying a life of ease while their riches just multiply. Man, has he fallen deeply into that comparison trap? Started looking at all these others as, you know, those people, those wicked couldn't give a rip about God kind of people. They are bad people who are prospering like crazy, and it's not fair. Ever been there? He goes on. Now he starts comparing his good behavior against their bad behavior. He says, did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?

It kind of reminds me the older brother in Jesus' story, the prodigal son, where he says to his dad, I'm the good kid. I've been good my whole life. And now all of that just seems pointless. The songwriter here goes on, I've been good. Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?

But I get nothing but trouble. all day long. Every morning brings me pain. Now you know that's not true. Because words like nothing and all day long and every are never true. He's blowing this way out of proportion as we all have a tendency to do. He's saying,

I have no good gifts in my life while they're out there flourishing. And then he wraps this section by saying this is super hard to understand. I'm telling you, God, I just don't get it. But then he gets to verse 17. And he starts to land.

on the truth about God. You see the pattern? He just pours out his own frustrations, his own feelings, and then he lands on the truth about God. He says, then, verse 17, then I went into your sanctuary, oh God. Then I entered into your presence.

Then I changed my focus from them and me and started focusing my thoughts on you. And I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. They're not to be admired. They're not to be envied. they need to be warned where their godless ways are taking them because truly you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction

they're just plowing through the guardrails that you've set up in an instant they are destroyed completely swept away by terrors the truth is about these people is they're not carefree anxiety and fear they grip their lives when I read that it just moved me to compassion and empathy because I have been there and it motivates me to never stop lovingly warning people about the futility and the danger of life apart from God,

while at the same time keeping my heart soft toward them and recognizing the grace that has been shown to me and at the same time stay honest about myself. And he does that in this song. He says, then I realized that my heart was bitter and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant. I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. You know, bitterness and envy will turn you into someone with animalistic instincts. There's no compassion.

There's no love. There's no, how can I serve you? It's just kind of a survival of the fittest type of mentality that centers around yourself. And I just love with this honest rant lands. Verse 23, yet I still belong to you. You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you?

I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak. But God remains the strength of my heart. He is mine forever. Those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you. But as for me, how good it is to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

I love how he lands with a different kind of heart. He lands with a different perspective. There's no more envy. There's no more self-righteousness. No more judgmentalism. He says, I just need to tell everybody about how wonderful you are. You know what? I think this is a timely song for the council culture that we live in today.

Instead of envying people, instead of griping about people, instead of ranting about other people and writing them off, let's just keep telling them about the wonderful God they're missing out on. We all need that God in our life. including them. And I hope you have a day filled with gratitude and compassion, and I'll see you back here tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today.

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