Word to the Wise: Your Heart Reflects Who You Are!

I am not a big fan of mirrors.  I try to spend as little time in front of a mirror as possible.  I may spend 4 minutes in front of the mirror combing my hair and brushing my teeth, but that is about it.  Whether we like what we see in or not, the mirror gives a perfectly accurate reflection of our physical appearance.  If there are sleep lines on our face, imperfections on our skin, or our hair is out of place, a mirror is going to let us know.  The more time we spend in front of a mirror the more imperfection we see in ourselves (maybe that’s why I don’t spend much time in front of the mirror, I want to remain as ignorant as possible of my imperfections). In the same way that we use a mirror to reflect back to us the physical condition of our face, there is a place we can look into our lives where we can see the spiritual condition of our entire being!

Where in our lives can we look to have our spiritual condition reflected back to us? 

READ:  Proverbs 27:19

Here’s our WORD TO THE WISE for the week from the book of Proverbs:  Your HEART reflects who you are!  What is our heart?  How does our heart work? Why is our heart important?  Here are a few important things to understand about what our heart is, how it works, and why it is important . . . 1)  Our heart is the SOURCE of our ACTIONS and our BEING (Mt. 12:34-35, 15:19, 6:21; Mk 7:21-23; Lk. 6:45), 2)  Our heart is where God LOOKS into our lives (1 Samuel 16:7), 3)  Our hearts CHANGE when we allow God to lead us (Ps. 139:23-24).  Whatever is in your heart is who you are, . . . and that is where God wants to relate with us!

The wise TRUST in the Lord with all their heart (Prov. 3:5-6) – Where does your confidence or security lie?  For some it lies in a relationship (eg, friend, boy/girlfriend).  For some it lies in our abilities or talents (eg sports, music).  For some it lies in their appearance.  Sadly, for most all of us our trust, security, and confidence lies somewhere within ourselves.  Trust in ourselves might work temporarily but it will not give us any long-term confidence or security.  The Lord God is the only one who is worthy of our 100% “trust”, security, or confidence.  Relationships will fail us, our abilities and talents will come up short, our appearance will fade, but trusting in the Lord with ALL of our heart will make our path we are walking in life straight.

The wise are TESTED by the Lord in their heart (Proverbs 17:3) – A crucible or a furnace is used to heat gold or silver in order to remove “dross”.  Dross is a useless impurity within gold or silver that is removed when it is refined or purified with intense heat.  Dross is worthless and its presence in gold or silver diminishes its value.  You and I have worthless impurity in our hearts that needs to be removed.  Just like a crucible or furnace is used to refine gold and silver, God tests our hearts by applying “heat” to our lives in order to remove impurity so that only what is valuable remains.  God’s testing of our lives may be painful, but the end result is something more beautiful than gold and more valuable than silver!

The wise are to KEEP their heart (Proverbs 4:23) – There are many things that we will defend or protect with our lives . . . our family, our possessions, our reputation, our country, our rights.  We will physically and emotionally fight to protect these things because we do not want them to be exposed to danger.  In the NIV Prov. 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."  If there is one thing that is worthy of shielding in order to keep safe, guarded, and protected, it is our heart!  We must “keep our heart” because God knows that any evil that we intentionally or casually allow into our lives can take our hearts hostage and make a permanent impression inside of us.

CONCLUSION:

What place does Jesus Christ have in your heart?  1 Peter 3:15 says, “in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord”.  Jesus Christ must FILL our hearts, He must be given 100% rule and reign over our hearts which will result in a transformation of our thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions. If Jesus Christ is the Lord of our lives and He is living in and through us . . . the reflection of our hearts will be beautiful!!!