Exodus 21:12-16: in context

The law distinguishes carefully between kinds of killing. One who strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death; but if it was unintentional, not planned, an accident that God allowed to happen, then a place of refuge is appointed to which the person may flee. But if a man schemes and comes upon his neighbor deliberately to kill him, even the altar will not shelter him. The same deed, a death caused, is judged very differently depending on the intent behind it.

The heart of this law is a distinction of intent: the accidental killing and the deliberate murder are judged very differently, though the outward result, a death, is the same. The one who kills by accident, without malice or design, is given refuge; the one who schemes and kills with intent is held fully guilty. What separates them is not the outward act but the heart behind it, the intent. This reveals something about God's justice: it weighs the heart, not merely the deed. The same outward action can be very different before God depending on the intent from which it springs. God does not judge only by what is done, but by why, by the purpose and disposition of the heart behind the act. This is both sobering and reassuring. It is sobering because it means our hearts are weighed, not just our outward conduct; God sees the intent behind our actions, the motive, the disposition, which we can hide from others but not from him. An outwardly good act done from a corrupt motive is not good before the God who sees the heart; and the reverse is true as well. It is reassuring because it means God judges justly, taking account of intent, not condemning the innocent for what they did not mean to do, weighing the heart fairly. The word of God, Hebrews says, discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart; the LORD looks not on the outward appearance but on the heart. This calls us to attend not only to what we do but to why, to the intentions from which our actions spring, knowing that God weighs these. It is possible to do the right things for the wrong reasons, and God sees; and it is possible to be judged by others for what we did not intend, while God, who weighs the heart, judges rightly. The law's careful distinction between the accidental and the deliberate reflects a God whose justice reaches to the intent behind the act, and who therefore both requires and rightly judges the disposition of our hearts, not merely our outward deeds.

Do I attend only to my outward conduct, forgetting that God weighs the intent behind my actions, the motives and dispositions of my heart that others cannot see but he can, and can I attend not only to what I do but to why, knowing that God's justice reaches to the heart, judging the intent behind the act and not merely the act itself?