How's my heart?

This is actually a completely different blog than I originally was going to write today but the Lord keeps bringing something up to me over and over again so I decided I need to write about that instead. I've learned in the past that if the Lord continues to repeat something then there's a reason for it. He keeps bringing up over and over to me in my date time with him that the condition of my heart (and everyone else's) is extremely important to Him.
I'm in Matthew 6 now but this whole idea of the importance of one's heart begins in Matthew 5. In Matthew 5:21 Jesus starts preaching to the crowds about anger. Here He brings the new idea that it's not about if you kill someone or not out of anger that matters. He says if you're even angry in your mind to the point you're thinking awful things about this person then you've already murdered them. I wonder how many people I've actually murdered, not literally, but in my mind. There are probably hundreds. That's awful to think of! So here we see how Jesus says he looks at our hearts more than our actions.
Then in Matthew 5:27 Jesus talks about how if we lust after someone that isn't our spouse then we have committed adultery. Wow! He is also looking at our hearts here. We may have been completely faithful to our spouse physically but if we've thought something lustful about someone else then it's sin. I think this is really hard for our society to grasp. When it seems like anything goes or if you do everything but have sex with someone else it's ok. It's so sad!
Then skipping to Matthew 6:1 Jesus talks about giving to the needy and how people can do righteous acts just for the attention of others. He's talking about motives here. Are our motives of doing good things to please the Lord or to get the approval of others? Again He's looking at our hearts. Jesus says our left hand shouldn't know what our right hand is doing. We should give with good motives not to get anything in return.
Then to Matthew 6:5 Jesus talks about how prayer should be a private thing. Not that we can't pray out loud in a group of people but we should look at our hearts and our motives for that. Is it to get others approval or to please the Lord? Jesus says here that the hypocrites like praying out loud in front of everyone so people can see them and think they are "righteous" people. The Lord looks at our motives above all things.
So how does this apply to me you may ask? Well I've been doing some soul searching over the past few weeks to see what the Lord may mean by this. I know I struggle with making the approval of others my focus. I've had to honestly look at my heart about why I do the things I do. Is it to please the Lord and show others His love or is it for me to look like a "wonderful Christian woman"? So right now I'm searching and asking the Lord to show me my heart and see if there's anything in it that needs to be gone. Psalm 139: 23-24 has become my prayer. "Search me, oh God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." I hope the Lord is pleased with my heart; and if there's anything in it that's offensive to Him that He would show me and I'd quickly get rid of it. For my heart is the "wellspring of my life". (Proverbs 4:23)