Bridget A. Thomas
Every day is a gift!
God Wants Our Hearts, Not Our Performance
I was reading in the book of Micah not too long ago. Micah was a prophet who rebuked the people of Israel and Judah for their actions, during a time of corrupt leadership and exploitation of the poor. And this book of the Bible also contains some Messianic prophecies.
Reading the Bible really is an amazing thing. These words were written thousands of years ago. Yet they still come alive today to encourage and convict us. The Bible helps us grow, and draw closer to God. Making a habit of reading every day, and praying for insight in the words, will truly transform our lives.
When reading in Micah, there were a few verses in chapter six that especially made me stop and think.
6 With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
The people were looking for ways to make God happy, instead of truly turning to Him with their whole hearts.
The Life Application Study Bible says, “Israel responded to God’s request by trying to appease him with sacrifices, hoping he would then leave them alone. But sacrifices and other religious rituals aren’t enough; God wants changed lives. He wants his people to be fair, just, merciful, and humble. God wants us to be living sacrifices (Rom 12:1-2), not just doing religious deeds, but living rightly (Jer 4:4; Heb 9:14). It is impossible to follow God consistently without his transforming love in our hearts.” [1]
Goodness, don’t I do this at times too? Don’t I sometimes think that if I check all the boxes, then God will love me and bless me?
Just the day before reading this, when I sent our tithe on our churches website, in the back of my mind I was hoping that would help our old house to sell. (We moved to a new home in January. Unfortunately, our old house hasn’t sold yet. And part of me hoped that our tithe would nudge God to bring us a breakthrough.)
Sometimes religion turns into a list of “to dos.” We might hurry through our Bible reading and prayers, just to say we did it. But what did we get out of our time with the Lord when we were in such a hurry? And what did the Lord get from us when we were quick to run off to the rest of our day?
Jennifer Rothschild wrote, “Israel was focused on their ‘to do’ list, when God was focused on their hearts.” [2]
Our relationship with Jesus is all about the heart. God wants to spend time with us, to help us grow, and to become more like His Son. But perhaps there are times when we don’t give Him the time and worship He deserves.
And like we often see throughout the Bible, sometimes we think our performance is key to getting His love and blessings. But thanks to Jesus, we have His grace. The grace we are given is free. We don’t have to perform to earn it. There is nothing we need to do for Him to love us any more than He already does. He loves us beyond measure.
Of course this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t obey His Word. It doesn’t mean we should live recklessly, following the ways of the world.
But when God truly has our hearts, we will want to do the things He asks of us. And we do so willingly, with our hearts full.
Remember today that God longs to spend time with you. He is delighted when you make time for Him. He smiles each time you approach His throne. You are deeply loved.
Thank you for reading. God bless.
© 2018-2026 Bridget A. Thomas. All rights reserved.
[1] – Life Application Study Bible. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2007.
[2] – Rothschild, Jennifer. 66 Ways God Loves You. Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 2016.
Bridget A. Thomas 
We come by our desire for “prosperity gospel” honestly. It’s a challenge to let go of man’s easy to understand transactional perspective and seek God’s deeper love and covenant perspective. What a blessing He is patient and provides plenty of second chances.
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Very well said, Judy! And I agree. I’m so grateful He is patient. He continues to guide us and show us the way. ♥️
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♥️
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I’ve heard this called “performance based acceptance.” It happens with humans and we try to make it happen with God. I’m raising my hand🙋🏻♂️, because I’ve done it too. I’m a fairly driven and ambitious person, who rarely thinks his “good” is “good enough.” But it’s a self-made trap-especially with the Lord. Thank you for sharing this important message, Bridget, and for including a familiar passage in its full context—with reference material! Well done.
🙏Heavenly Father, please help Bridget and her husband sell their old house. Just because that’s how you work! Amen.
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That’s a really good point – we learn “performance based acceptance” from other people and relationships. And then we place this concept on our relationship with God too.🤔 It takes practice to turn this around, but we can do it with God’s help. 🙌🏻 Thank you so much for the prayer! Amen and amen! 🙏🏻♥️
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I, too, have to check myself. Why am I doing this? Out of a box being checked to gain something or out of true worship of the One who allows me to walk in blessing regardless?
Great post of so much truth, Bridget! ❤️ Thank you for this!
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That’s a great question to keep in mind, Summer. I pray we can learn to act out of worship, without expecting something in return. I read something in a book recently that I loved – He owes us nothing, yet He gives us everything. He is so good to us. When we remember that, it helps our hearts to have the right perspective. Thank you, Summer! ♥️
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Thank you for reminding us that God loves us, just because He does. It’s not based on our performance. He knew us and loved us before we were even in our mother’s womb! I love that we can come to Him as we are and be genuine and intimate with Him each day. I pray the house sells soon! Blessings! ❤️
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So well said, Dawn! He loves us so much. I love that you mentioned being genuine and intimate in our relationship with Him. What a gift we have in Him! 🙌🏻 Thank you so much for the prayers! 🙏🏻 Blessings to you too! ♥️
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Excellent, encouraging post, Bridget. It’s comforting to know God loves us.
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🎵 Oh how He loves us! 🙌🏻
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I enjoyed your post Bridget. Certainly a reminder that the way to get God’s attention is not through our to-do-list but to give Him our hearts instead of empty rituals and performance – going through the motions, so to speak. Relationships do not survive on going through the motions. Relationships need our attention and with that our time, heart and soul especially our relationship with God.
The housing market seems pretty tight right now . . . at least here. I’ll pray your house sells soon!
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So very well said, Pauline! A great point about all relationships, and especially our relationship with our Heavenly Father. ♥️ Thank you so much for your prayers! 🙏🏻
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Love this post Bridget. I think I too can at times lean into ticking off some boxes but God is more concerned about our heart. Today, I was thinking about my time with God – life and distractions have gotten the better in keeping me from some quality time with God and I have been choosing ease more times than I would like to admit. Thank you for this reminder of heart above performance. It was a good reminder for me.
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I know what you mean. And I also think that for those of us who blog (or are in ministry) it can easy for our time to be consumed with Kingdom work. But we also need to devote time for our own growth in our relationship with the Lord. It takes balance. Thank you, Manu, for sharing your thoughts. ♥️
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