The other day I was at Starbucks doing some writing and this thought hit me…

“Behavior is an overflow of belief.”

In other words, our beliefs are lived out by our behaviors. And in more other words, what’s in you will work its way out of you. The ancient and wise Solomon knew this, that’s why we wrote…

“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Proverbs 23:7 (NIV)

If you want to know someone’s beliefs look at their behaviors, and if you want to know someone’s behaviors you should be able to see it by their beliefs. The problem is when our beliefs and behaviors don’t match up. This creates a dissonance in our reputation and influence. In fact, many people are turned off by people who say one thing but act out another. As you know we call them hypocrites.

The goal of our life should be for our behaviors to match our beliefs as closely as possible. As followers of Christ, we should want our behaviors to align with our beliefs so that we honor God and have influence with others. The more aligned we are, the greater peace we have and the greater impact we make. So, if there’s a problem in your behaviors you need to fundamentally go back to what you truly believe. And the greater the gap is the more you should work on your heart than your actions.

Behavior modification never works if you start with behaviors. It only works when you start with the heart. That’s why Jesus was always concerned more about the heart than the actions. He actually pointed out a group of hypocrites that seemed religious, but in fact, were not aligned.

Matthew 15:8 (NIV)

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

God is more concerned with your belief and your heart than He is your behavior and your actions. Because He knows that it is about a heart modification rather than a behavior modification.

The good news is that God’s grace empowers us to work on our heart. He gives us the freedom to make adjustments over time and has unending mercy to be patient with us. You and I are a work in progress and that’s ok. Our eternal security is not dependant on our behavior, it’s dependant upon our belief. Just never allow that to be an excuse to not align the two. But you won’t have to worry, because when you’re heart believes your behavior will want to follow even if it is having a hard time aligning.

Be patient with yourself and allow God’s grace to lead you into being more Christ-like in all you do.

Oh yeah…and stop beating yourself up every time you make a mistake, that’s why there’s amazing grace!