Message: Our priorities are backwards because we are wasting our time trying to please people by superficially showing them what they want to see. God sees everything and is only concerned about the condition of our hearts. Not the appearance of our façade.
Command: Don’t be so concerned about what other people think. They’re just people and they have no authority. Our focus and concern should be on the fact that God hears and sees our thoughts.
Promise: God sees my every thought and motive, but he is the only one who loves me unconditionally in spite of it!
Warning: Not only can God hear and see our thoughts, but he has the power to kill the body.
Application: This sounds terrifying and threatening and though it should, I feel like the point is that we spend so much more time concerning ourselves with what people think than what God thinks. People are unstable and unfaithful and concerned with image, but God is faithful, just and concerned with the condition of the heart. Our drive for pleasing people is our own pride, but our drive for pleasing God is our eternal salvation. Nothing is hidden from God and that is both beautiful and terrifying. While we might be able to fool people with a promoted image, we can’t fool God. Again, that is both beautiful and terrifying. God sees us and loves us for who we are but people don’t. This passage prompts me to think about all of the times I am trying to save face with people, but if I am more concerned with pleasing God, I will address the concerns of my heart. If my heart is in order I don’t have to play damage-control with people. It’s a matter of putting the priorities in the right order.