The Heart is Always the Issue

Last night I had a dream, and though I don’t remember any images, the words “condition of the heart” and “out of the heart” and “a reflection of the heart” were said again and again. Actions, for example, are a condition of the heart, words are formed and leave the mouth from out of the heart, and a person’s character (who they are when no one else is looking) is a reflection of the heart. I woke up, needless to say, convicted. I strive to be a godly man, but I fail often. I strive to please God, but I am also a selfish human being. So I prayed as I woke up and got ready: “Lord, change my heart! I want a heart that reflects you! I want to honor you, not just with my lips, but with my thoughts, my action, and my character!”

And this is true! God, through Scripture speaks on the heart again and again:

Proverbs 4:23: Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Proverbs 27:19: As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

1 Samuel 16:7: But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Jeremiah 17:9-10: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Ezekiel 11:19: And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

Ezekiel 36:26-27: And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Matthew 12:34: You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Matthew 15:16-20: And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

I could go on, but I am sure you now get the idea. From the beginning to the end, God’s word is concerned with the condition of our hearts! There are some of us who are in Church our whole lives that Jesus would say of us (as He did of the Pharisees) “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;’” (Mark 6:7). How often do we excuse our narcissism, our language, our conduct and our thoughts by justifying ourselves, when God sees down to our heart? God is after our heart. He desires us, in conduct, thought and word to be wholly His. He sent His Son to die because we cannot do this on our own. Jesus lived, died and rose again because, apart from Him, our hearts are dead and lifeless (stone, God calls it), and He wants to give us new life, writing His law on our heart! So today is a day for all of us to examine ourselves: what do our words say about the condition of our heart? What is our thought life like? What do our actions show when we’re not around church folk? Who are we in our most secret and intimate places? Oh Lord, create in me a clean heart, and renew a right Spirit within me.

Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

build up the walls of Jerusalem;

then will you delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.