A Different Heart

6.1.2011

Proverbs 21:2 2 All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart. NIV

Yesterday we looked at motives – the produce of the heart: All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord. (Proverbs 16:2 NIV) God sees what is generated from within our hearts and weighs it to see if there is any measure of good; or to see what the outcome of our present and future living may be. Motives are what move us to do what we do; be it a larger slice of the pie, or what have you.

Today, we see a slightly different point of view: God weighs the heart. I used to think poorly of the Proverbs. I used to think they were just a profound grasp of the obvious. I used to think they were just repetitions of the same thing (case in point above). I used to just breeze through them with the attitude of “Yeah, yeah, yeah… But these days I appreciate them for what they are: truth.

The heart generates motives. Whatever and wherever the “heart” is, it makes things. It makes us see things in a particular manner; it makes us respond in a particular way. The heart can be fooled up until the point we become unguarded, then watch out – whatever’s in there will come out. And so Proverbs 16.2 looks at the produce of the heart, and Proverbs 21.2 looks at the heart itself: its capacity for good or evil.

A faulty piece of equipment is always going to produce a faulty product; the heart is no different. God said, “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,”… “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”  (Jeremiah 31.33 NIV) The heart, the seat of our being, is where God chooses to make us different and wherever God sees a faulty heart He sees potential for everlasting change.

In Romans 13 Paul said this: The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Verse 9 NIV) If God expects that, then we have to have the capacity to do it; and the only way we can is with a different heart…

Father in Heaven,
You are in charge of production and process; You are in charge of my heart. I pray for Your touch upon the seat of my being that I may reflect Your presence and thereby ‘produce’ in Your power; all in the name of Love – Amen.