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Thoughts of the Heart "As he [a man] thinketh in his heart so is he." (Prov.23:7) "O for a heart to praise my God Christ referred more than once to the inner moral and spiritual state of man. It is a fundamental teaching of his that the outward appearance of a man is nothing to go by, for the real person is the one inside. "Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matt.12:34 AMPC) This is a sure test. Only so long can people pretend to be what they are not. They can be polite, suave, insincere, hypocritical, saying one thing and thinking something else, but not for long. A very small incident can upset the careful pose, revealing the true current of thought, the real nature behind the facial mask. Jesus was never deceived. He not only knew what was going on in the minds of men, He revealed them to themselves, either as men without guile, as women of great faith, or as foolish, or blind, or slow or lazy or patronising or downright hypocrites; wearing all the outward show of respectability and religious devotion, without their sterling qualities. Men do not "gather figs of thistles." (Matt.7:16) This obvious inability of Nature to produce fruit from the fruitless was a simple but telling picture of the outward polish of sophistication which produces nothing to feed the hungry. Tares may parade as wheat but they produce no bread, neither do thorns produce wine to make glad the heart of man. Stony ground cannot support the corn which gives bread nor will the shallow ground produce that abundance which rejoices the reaper. "By their fruits ye shall know them." (Matt 7:20) The beautiful quality of a noble, well‑balanced character, fed and ripened on those elements of experience, watered by faith and sunned in the delight of the Word of the Lord, is the fruit which the great Husbandman seeks and waits for with patience. It is easily recognisable by man. To God it is a certainty. The image which is projected by the aids of secular education, the tailor, the hairdresser and the beautician, may get by on occasions but it is only the facade of the true person. The Spirit of God looks behind the facade to the heart, probing its every motive. That is wise counsel which says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." (Prov.4:23) September / October 1986 |
