A Beautiful Palace Does Not Make a Great King

Jeremiah 22:13-17 (NLT)

1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)

    …The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)

    The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?

1 Cor. 3:13 (NLT)

    But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgment day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone's work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value.

1 Tim. 5:24 (NLT)

    Remember that some people lead sinful lives, and everyone knows they will be judged. But there are others whose sin will not be revealed until later.

1. God allows the circumstances of this world to inevitably strip down the layers of our lives in order to reveal what is ultimately in our heart

2.  God has given us hearts that can flexibly stretch and grow bigger as we choose to love more and more

1 Thes. 4:10 (NCV)

    And truly you do love the Christians in all of Macedonia. Brothers and sisters, now we encourage you to love them even more.

Matthew 12:35 (NASB) 

    "The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil.

3. Train our eyes to see what is eternal

2 Cor. 4:18 (NIV) 

    So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Psalm 109:17 (NASB) 

        He also loved cursing, so it came to him; And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.

4. Train our eyes to see what is right

Deut. 12:28 (NLT)

    Be careful to obey all my commands so that all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what pleases the Lord your God.