It's a Heart Issue: Jesus Calls Us to a Deeper Righteousness

Chapters

• 2:26 Return And Life Updates
• 3:14 New Driver And Winter Storm
• 5:30 Teens Growing Up And Mixed Emotions
• 8:08 Filling The Void With Purpose
• 10:09 Why Grace For My Home Exists
• 12:30 Faith Shaped More By Walk Than Words
• 15:42 Failure, Honesty, And Real Discipleship
• 18:17 Hope For Parents And No Condemnation
• 20:20 Returning To The Gospels For Renewal
• 22:32 Beyond The Pharisees: Heart Righteousness
• 25:22 Anger, Lust, And The Root Within

Transcript

Audrey: 1:14

Hello, friend. Welcome back to Grace for My Home. I'm so glad to be back with you again this week. I hope that you're doing well. I stayed gone longer than I planned, and I do apologize for that. I've had people reach out to me and check on me, and I appreciate that. I appreciate your concern. I think some people were concerned that I wasn't coming back, and I knew I was coming back the whole time. I just needed some time to truly disconnect and pray and seek the Lord and say, God, what am I supposed to be doing in this season? What would you have me do? And I had an opportunity to do that, and I'm so thankful for that. But today I'm back, and there's so much going on. So much has happened since the last time that I spoke with you. I we have another driver in our home. My youngest son Caleb got his driver's license, and that was a huge milestone for him and also for me, because now I have three boys with a car and out on the road, and it has in it has leveled up my prayer life. We had a huge snow this past week.

Speaker: 2:31

Every year, our kids pray for snow, and we rarely get it, but we had a pretty big snow last year, and then this year we had another snow, which was even larger. We probably had six to eight inches, which is huge for us. And so for two days, my boys had an e-learning day, and Caleb was just burning up to use his driver's license and drive to school. So that was hard for him to have two e-learning days when he had his driver's license and a parking pass. But today was his first day of driving to school by himself without me dropping him off or him riding with his dad. And he was so excited. And I, of course, I checked to make sure he got there and everything, and he did. And then tonight he has basketball practice, and he's gonna come home and then go back to basketball practice. And you know, guys, it's like it's it's bittersweet. I'm thankful that he got his driver's license and he's so excited about it. And look at the freedom it's giving me. I don't have to pick him up, I don't have to drop him off, I don't have to go back and take him to basketball practice. But now I have to trust that God has his hand on him, and um, and I know he does. But like I said, we just got through with a big snow for us, and we were all locked in here together, and I think my my boys, including my husband, were about to go stir crazy. They like to be out and about, and you know, I have three teenagers who don't want to spend their whole weekend with their mom and dad, but we did have some good family time. Today, they're all at work and school and and those kind of things. So I got an opportunity to record today because I'm here by myself at home. This weekend, Luke, my middle son, will turn 18. So we're gonna do something for him for his birthday, probably take him out and just do whatever he wants to do. He so now I have a 19-year-old, an 18-year-old, and a 15-year-old. Wow. Wow. Um, as my boys have grown up and they've moved on from homeschooling to public school, and now I have one in college, you know, I've tried to fill that void because when you have your kids around you all the time and it feels like you can't take a breath without them being right there, and and you know, and that's good and bad, you know, there's there's there's challenges with that as well as um blessings with that. But as they start spreading their wings and and going off on their own, I have found, and you know, everybody tells you, but you have to experience it for yourself. But I found that there was a hole in my heart. You know, I just felt like all the work I had done, you know, now what do I do with my time that when I was doing all that work, what do I do now? And that's why I've tried over the last several years to fill that that place that they took. I mean, nothing will ever replace them, but to fill that time that I I invested in them with something good. Because guys, I'm the kind of person I have to do something meaningful. I have to find God's plan, God's purpose. And that makes me feel like my my life matters. It makes me feel like my days matter. So since they have, they have grown up and and don't need their mom as much. You know, I've done things like opened a coffee shop for my church. About three years ago, we opened up a coffee shop called Awaken Coffee Bar in a little town called Mullins, South Carolina. They didn't have a coffee shop, and I think every town needs a coffee shop. So we were able to do that, and it's a ministry of our church, it's a way of reaching out into the community and serving and loving people and getting to know them, getting to find out what the needs are, and hopefully helping to meet some of those needs in the community. And it's not something I'd ever done or thought I would ever do, but it has been a blessing to do that, and you know, it's built my confidence. I did something I didn't didn't know I had in me. And my sister and I, we have opened that coffee shop and run it for the church. Um, soon it'll be three years that we've done that. That we've been that it's been open. It took several years to get it going. And also around that time, I started this podcast and my blog, Grace for My Home, as a way of encouraging women. And I named it Grace for My Home because I found out in my own life as a mom, as a homeschool mom, as a homemaker, that God always gives enough grace. There's always enough grace, even when it doesn't feel like there is enough grace. He gives us enough grace for our homes, for our families, for ourselves. And I wanted to encourage other women because we we got to have each other's back. You know, we've got to help each other. If I've gone a little further down the road than you have, then I need to to encourage you. I need to say, come on, you can do it. This is how God helped me. And I know that, you know, he's not going to do everything exactly in your life like he did in my life, but he's shown me at every turn and every twist that he's enough, that his grace is sufficient. And so this is my way of saying, come on, you can do it. You know, and one of the things that I've learned is that I have taught my children so much more by my walk than I ever did by my words. Now, the words are important. You've got to say the words. You know, the words form their imagination, but they have watched me and their dad and those that we go to church with, they have watched us walk with Jesus. They have watched us walk with God, they've watched us try to walk out a real faith. And it's reminded me that, you know, our walk with God isn't just about us. It's about those that are coming behind us, those who are watching us, those who want to believe. They just need somebody to help them, to point them in the right direction, and sometimes just to be an example. And we may never know who we're an example to, but just walking out our faith, believing and trusting when it's hard, that's a huge testimony for people. That is a huge encouragement for people. And I found that I know in the lives of my children, but even in those who the Lord has allowed me to encourage and to mentor, that a lot of times it's my my weaknesses, it's my failures that have served as the biggest example of how to serve Jesus. Because, you know, it's really easy to serve God when everything is going right. You know, when things work out like you thought, when your schedule doesn't get messed up, you know, when people are nice to you in the grocery line, you know, it it works out, when things work out, it's easier to be a good Christian. But when things don't work out, you know, when nothing goes according to plan, when every time you have a night plan to do something fun, somebody gets sick, or you know, it's those times that when we choose to act like Jesus, when we choose to trust God, even though we don't like the circumstances, that those are the times that our faith speaks the loudest. And when we mess up and we have to go and say, Hey, mama messes up, daddy messes up, we we are so not perfect, but there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and we have to dust ourselves off and we have to get back up and we have to keep on going after Jesus. That's how you work walk with God. You know, it's not perfect and it's messy and it's often embarrassing, you know, because you think people expect me to act like a Christian, but I didn't act like a Christian just then. But I've got to keep going on because I am a Christian, not because I'm pretending to be one, because I really am and I do love Jesus, even when maybe it doesn't look like I do. You know, that is faith. Faith is that even when we mess up, God is still on our side. And faith isn't about how great we are or about how wonderful we are, but it's about how great he is and how wonderful he is. An hour getting up when we don't when we would rather not, an hour pushing forward when we don't feel like we have the energy or the strength or the faith to do so. That is faith. That is the testimony that we're leaving to those that we love, those who are watching that we don't even realize are watching. And now, as I look back, guys, we can get so stuck in the shoulda, woulda, could's, right? There's so many things I wish I had done differently, but I didn't know. I did the best I could with the information I had and the character I had at the time. I did the best I knew how. And but when I look back now, I can see where they got it. They they got it. Are they perfect? No. Do I want to strangle them sometimes? Yes. But they're making decisions and they're praying about those decisions, and even when those decisions might not be the ones I want them to make, I can trust that they are growing up and that they are taking things seriously and that they believe in God, and that's huge. And I'm thankful for that. And so, guys, I just want to encourage you who have little ones at home or or even big ones that are grown, God is still working. He's still on the throne. I often tell my mom, you know, she prayed for me, and I was 22 when I became a Christian, and I'm so thankful for her prayer. So if if your little ones or your big ones, you know, if they're struggling and and you feel condemned because you didn't or you should have or you would have or you didn't know, I just want to tell you that his grace is enough today, that he loves you with all his heart, that you are his special one, that you are his prize, you are his child. You were worth everything. You were worth everything that he suffered for because he loves you. And there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. And the end is not yet. He's not done with us. He's got so much more he wants to do in us and through us. And so we can decide that our future is gonna be brighter and better than our past, no matter who we are, no matter where we are in our walk with the Lord. I decided at the beginning of this year that I was gonna read through the Gospels again. I'm gonna read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John because I need to hear the words of Jesus. I need to hear exactly what he said. You know, a lot of times people will tell you what Jesus said or they'll tell you about Jesus. But guys, we can go straight to the source. We can go to the gospels and hear his words. We can pray and hear his voice. We don't have to depend on somebody else's opinion or somebody else's interpretation. We can go to God and we can pray to him and we can read his word. And so I decided at the beginning of the year I was going to renew my mind in the Gospels. And a few weeks back I was reading in the book of Matthew. I don't follow a specific plan. I just read enough that day that I don't overdo it. Okay, if I if I overdo it, then I don't remember any of it. But if I can take a chunk, if I can take a passage and something that that's meaningful and meditate on that through the day, then I get a lot more out of that than following somebody else's plan or trying to get a whole chapter in, and I may not remember remember any of it. So I just read a section, I read until I feel full. You know, it's kind of like a meal. I read, I I eat until I'm full, you know, I read until I'm full. But I was reading in the book of Matthew in chapter five, and that's the Sermon on the Mount, and it starts with the Beatitudes. But after the Beatitudes, you know, Jesus is talking to the masses, but he says something that I think is interesting in Matthew 5, starting in verse 20. He says to them, For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And I just thought that was interesting because in Jesus' day, the Pharisees were considered the devout ones. They were the ones who were striving to keep the law. They were the ones who were striving to be holy and to do the right things. But he's telling the common folk, unless your righteousness is greater than their righteousness, you won't even enter the kingdom. And I think of myself as one of those listening in, maybe not a part of the Pharisees, right? Out the the other people. And I think that wasn't that wasn't that disheartening for them to hear that unless you surpass what these Pharisees are doing, you can't even enter the kingdom. And and I thought, Lord, I know you don't mean that we have to work harder than those who are working hard, but what do you mean? And he goes on in the next verses, and he's establishing something new. Because he said in a few verses before, in verse 16, 516, he says, Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until it is accomplished. That's kind of our way of saying, until every I is dotted and every T is crossed. I will this until this word is fulfilled. And Jesus came to do that. He came to fulfill the law. But you and I, we we could not fulfill the law. Jesus came to fulfill the law because he knew we couldn't, because we were born into sin. We have a sin nature. We could not fulfill the law, we could not keep the commandments. No matter how hard we tried, no matter how hard we pretended, there was no way that we could reach that level of righteousness that was required of God. So he came and did it for us because he knew that was the only way that the law would be fulfilled. He fulfilled it himself. And he's telling them here in Matthew 5, I'm going to establish something new. You know, he says here in verse 21, he says, You have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable in the court. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. So he's saying, okay, you've heard in the past, if you killed someone, you would be punished. You would be you would have to face the court, the justice system, right? If you kill someone, that's not acceptable. And there are repercussions for that act, that violent act. But he's saying, I'm going deeper. You know, that the the murder is something that you do with your hands. You know, it's a physical thing. You you physically have to touch someone, right? But he's saying, I'm going deeper, I'm going into the heart. Because before you put your hands on that person, before you murdered that person, there was something going on inside of you. There was an anger issue, right? That manifested itself in the murder. And Jesus is saying, I'm going deeper. Not only is the physical act, but that thing that led up to it, that's what I want to deal with. And so he goes back and he's and he's talking about the things that they know about the law. And and I'm not going to get into the whole chapter, I'm not going to dissect it, but let me give you just a couple of examples. Here in verse 27, it says, It says, You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So you see that that same principle? Yes, committing adultery is an act. It's a physical act. But there was something that happened before it manifested in the physical. There was something going on with your heart that led to that. And Jesus said, I'm going deeper. I don't want you just to do the right things. I want you to think the right things. I want your heart to be pure towards me. One more one more example. In verse 43, he says, You've heard that it says, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemies, but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. So Jesus is saying it's no longer eye for eye and tooth for tooth. I'm going to do something different. I'm going for the heart. I'm going to have a people who don't just do the right things, but they love. They have a heart to give. They have a heart to not retaliate. They have a heart to see good done to their neighbors, not just to those who are kind to them, but those who aren't kind to them. Guys, that's not that's not natural. That's not human. That is divine. And the only way we can live that way is through the power of Jesus Christ living inside of us. I tell people often, especially my children, there's nothing good in me. There's nothing good that lives in me. The only thing good that lives in me is Jesus Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit, I can do the things that he asks of me. And only then when I am submitted to him, when I am committed to him, when I am walking with him. Because if I get outside of that, I can get nasty real fast. But God is calling us to a higher plane. And that's why he was telling the people, unless your righteousness is greater than the Pharisees. And what do you mean, greater than the Pharisees, Lord? Well, they're doing these acts for other people. You know, they're showing off how good they are by the good things that they're doing. But I want a people who, if nobody sees, they're still doing those things. Not because they have their eye on man, but because they have their eye on me. And that's when he gives us that new heart. He gives us his heart. You know, he takes out that heart of stone, that heart of greed and hate and anger and bitterness and gives us a heart that loves him and obeys him. Isn't that good? God wants to go deeper. He wants to go deeper. He wants to change us from the inside out. He wants us to have a heart that loves the things that he loves. And guys, the only way we can do that is to get near him, is to get with him, is to spend time with him, is to allow him to do that work in our hearts. And it's so good. It's so good. And that's when people see our good works and they don't glorify us, they glorify our Father in heaven. And that's my prayer, Lord. Yes, people are going to see the things that you do, but let all the glory be to God. Let God be glorified. Let people be drawn to God by the life that You and I lead. Amen. I'm so glad to be back with you. Please, if this message has been a blessing to you today, please share it with a friend. That is the biggest thank you that you could give me. And I'm so excited to be back. Thank you all who messaged me and asked, Are you coming back? Here I am. Also, I have some other things that I'm working on, and hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to share some of those things with you. If you would like to stay in touch with me throughout the week, I have an email newsletter. So if you'll just go to the show notes and click on newsletter, you can get signed up for my weekly newsletter. And in that I share a little more, like I share pictures of our family and those kind of things. I don't like to put a lot of that out on social media, but I do share a few more personal things on my email newsletter. And I'd love to connect with you. I'd love to hear about you and your family and things that are going on in your life. And before you go today, I'd like to pray for you. Father, I thank you for this precious mom who is trying so hard, and it just feels, Lord, like she's hitting her head up against the wall. I thank you today that your grace is enough for her. That God, you see her. It doesn't matter who else sees her or who doesn't see her, who, Lord, you see her, and that's all that matters. And I pray today that she would feel strength in her heart and in her mind, that hope would flood her. And God, that, Lord, you would just put that spring back in her stab. I pray, Lord God, that you would help her to find a plan, to find the vision that you have for her life. And Lord, I just thank you for speaking to her, even as she prays, Lord God. I thank you for that still small voice that brings peace and comfort in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Bye bye.