As he thinketh in his heart...

I want to dispel any doubt concerning who we are. 

We are as we think in our heart.

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he” Prov 23:7a

The world says that we think with our head.  The kingdom says we think in our hearts.   How can that be?  How can our heart think? 

Our heads are the hardware.  Our brains are wired a certain way.  But what makes us able to use it?  What makes us able to determine its action? 

“The answer to anything does not lie within itself, no matter how many times you slice it.”  Ravi Zacharias (paraphrased from a talk I heard on the radio)

We can not find the answer to how the brain works, how our head works, within our head.  We must look outside of the head to find the answer.  We must look to the heart.  Just as the computer hardware does nothing without the software, so our heads do nothing without the heart.  It is a matter of the heart.

This is why we can say that, even having not outwardly committed an act… we are guilty of it in our hearts.  And God judges the heart.   

“But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Matt 5:28 (italics mine)

“for [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 1 Sam 16:7b (italics mine)

It is always a matter of the heart.  In is never about what we are physically able to do… it is about what we are in our heart.

When a man thinks about taking something that is not his… it IS theft.

When a man thinks about another woman and lusts… it IS adultery.

When a man thinks about another man as he would a woman… it IS homosexuality.

When a man thinks someone is a fool… it IS murder.

Consider these three positions:

We are as we think…

1. without the ability to do it
2. having not exercised the ability to do it
3. having exercised the ability to do it

A man who thinks of another woman whom he will never have the ability to be with… still has committed adultery in his heart.  Just because he is unable to do it doesn’t mean that he hasn’t done it.  This is very important.  When this sinks in and we truly believe this… we are humbled.  We know that “the imagination of man's heart [is] evil from his youth” (from Gen 8:21).   We know that everything we have ever thought… in God’s eyes… we have done.  How much more powerful is the cross of Christ… how much more amazing is that amazing Grace… how much deeper is that love, and complete is that forgiveness when we realize exactly what we have been forgiven of?!?!?

If it was about our ability, if it was about our outward appearance, if it was about our intellect, if it was about our IQ… it would be unfair.  We would not have equal opportunity for redemption.  But it is not about the head.  It is about the heart.

And at the heart of the Gospel is the heart of God.  God is love.  He loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die in our place for everything we have ever thought so that we might live forever with Him!

“That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways” (1 Kings 8:58)

SDG