Most of the time people use the heart to justify their evil deeds.. You will hear God looks at the heart not what is seen with the physical eyes. You will also hear, what matters is the heart. is all true, but what we dont understand is that whatever is seen outside is a reflection of what is in us.
There is a correlation between what is seen and what is inside of you. If what you do is contrary to what is inside of you then that is hypocrisy. An example is the lifestyle of the Scribes and Pharisees, who appear good on the outside but inside is full of evil.
Matthew 23:25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.”
The heart automatically pours out what’s inside of it. Take the heart as a seed or a tree, and your deeds to be a fruit. Have you ever seen a mango fruit on a coconut tree before? A mango tree bears mango fruit and coconut bears coconut. In other words, you are what is inside of you.
Why does God Look at the Heart?
Let’s look at 1 Samuel 16:17:
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
The emphasis is on For the Lord does not see as man sees. You see when you perform a surgery on me and open my heart, you will never see me there, you will see my heart pumping blood, likewise when you open my brain you won’t see what am thinking..because what is inside of me that makes gives me the power to think is not physical, It is the spirit in us that gives us the ability to think, otherwise a dead body will be able to think because a dead body has a brain and has a heart.
My whole point is this, the body is a vessel and is the Spirit that makes it move and think.
For as the body without the spirit is dead
James 2:26
Can you see thinking?
Can you see kindness in my heart?
Have you ever opened someone’s heart and seen evil written on it?
The only way you can say someone is evil, is when you see it in their actions? If I don’t do something for you to see or even say it, there is no way telling who I am. The thought of evil, the thought of good is generated by the spirit in us or by our minds/heart and what the body does is to translate it to the physical world, so someone with physical eyes can see.
Genesis 6:5
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
The only one who can see and know our heart is God himself, not even the Arch angels. The heart is not the pumping machine called heart inside of you, God said the intention of the thoughts of his heart, My question, does the heart think to even have thoughts.. it doesn’t but the mind does. Have you ever seen mind before?
The heart in the Bible is used figuratively, otherwise can the physical heart that pumps blood in you do all the things listed here:
Mark 7:21-23
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
All these come out from the mind of man, can you see the mind?
Now, you know that God is a Spirit and also he sees everything, he sees our thoughts, he sees our actions, he knows what we will think about tommorow at 1:42pm. He sees what we do in the dark even though there is no light there.
Genesis 6:5
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
You see when God said this, your mother’s father’s father wasn’t even born, but God said the thoughts of our mind is evil continuously, He is able to tell us what we will be thinking even when we were not born.
God sees everything, where everything means everything but yet He told Samuel:
For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Why God Looks at the Heart
God is saying He doesn’t see as man sees, He isn’t saying he doesn’t see our deeds or works oo. He is telling you and me his very nature on how he sees things. From his side, He is looking at the spirit in that person, he is looking at the mind of that spirit, because it is from the heart or mind that everything comes from. God is looking at the root cause of the man’s life. If the heart is yellow, it is yellow you will see in the appearance.. So why should He look at the appearance?
When God sees the Heart, He will be able to tell who you are, so why should He look at your outward appearance to know you?
Proverbs 4:23
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
The outward appearance is for man. The nature of man allows man to see what is in this physical world. We are limited in our ability to see someone’s thought. You cannot see my mind, can you? So how can you know what is on my mind? Unless I put it in words, unless you see my works or deeds or a demonstration before you will be able to know what I think.
God sees both our heart and works, he sees the spiritual and physical so why did he decide to go with the heart and not the physical appearance?
The heart is the root of everything we do and will do. An evil heart brings forth evil works or deeds and good heart brings good deeds or works.
Matthew 7:18
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Knowing the correlation between the heart and our works or deeds is very important. This will help you to know the false teachers, the false prophets, and the false pastors. It will help you to know whom you are walking with, it will help you to know who someone is.
Judging from the outward appearance is not a bad thing because that’s our nature and that’s the only thing we can see, that’s why Jesus said you will know them by their fruits. You can only know them by their works not their heart. The heart is for God. Knowing their works will tell you their make up. If judging by the outward appearance is wrong, Jesus wouldn’t have told us to observe the fruits or their deeds.
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.”
God’s nature is different from man’s nature. God’s ways are different from our ways. God is God and Man is Man. Just like God saying He doesn’t see as man sees, the same case is made in:
- Numbers 23:9
God is not a man, that he should lie; - Job 10:4
Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees? - Isaiah 55:8
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
The case of justifying from outward appearance is not wrong because that’s our nature, I can’t see what’s in your mind or what you are made of. I cannot see whether you have an evil spirit in you or the Holy spirit in you. There is no way of knowing your thoughts unless is manifested in works or words.
If justifying from what we can see is wrong then Jesus is wrong in saying:
Matthew 7:16
You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Proverbs 20:11
Even a young man is known by his actions–whether his conduct is pure and upright.
If you want to know someone is by their actions, once the works or words are demonstrated then you will be able to recognize who they are. Jesus himself said we will know them by their fruit, He didn’t say by their seed. God looks at the seed or heart because that’s his nature and because out of the heart are all the issues of life..He doesn’t have to look at the outward appearance to know us. But our nature only allows us to see the outward appearance and that’s fine.
Jesus used the fruit analogy because is the perfect explanation for the link between the heart and our deeds or works or words. Where the heart represents the tree or seed and the fruit represents our actions. The mango tree bears mango fruit and when you pass by the mango tree and see a mango fruit hanging on it, you don’t have to cut open the tree to know whether is a mango tree or not because you won’t find coconut fruit on mango tree. Also fruits are not hidden, fruits naturally comes out of the tree and is visible to everyone.
What’s seen outside is as a result of what’s inside. If green color is inside then green color will be seen outside. The words, the deeds, the actions comes from the heart or mind not the other way round. One thing about fruit is, no matter how long it takes to form, it will surely come out when it’s time arrives. You don’t force it to come out oo. It flows naturally from you. And once it flows then we will know the seed inside whether is of God or the devil. We will know the kind of person you are.
You are good because what’s inside you is good, you are kind because of what’s inside you is kind, you are loving because of what’s inside you is Love. You are forgiving because forgiveness is in you. You are evil because what’s inside you is evil, you are wicked because what’s inside you is wickedness. You are a fornicator because what’s inside you is fornication. You are a child of God because His Holy Spirit is in you. You are child of the devil because His spirit is in you.
1 John 3:8-9
He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
You cannot sin because the SEED of God remains in you. If the SEED is not in you, you will keep on sinning. Because as long as the seed of the devil is in you, you will keep on sinning. If you want to change the fruit, change the seed.
Let Your Deeds Reflect the God Within
If God is in your heart then your deeds or works or actions or words must reflect the qualities of God. GOD is holy, you too must be Holy, God is love, you too must be love, God is kind, you too must be kind..
If the qualities are not seen then He is not the one in you. You cannot justify the sinful deeds you do with the fact that God is in the heart (the heart is what matters), because if indeed He is in your heart, then you won’t do the sinful deeds you do in the first place.
You can dress provocatively and justify it with God is in the heart. If truly God is in your heart, you will dress decently, if God wanted us to walk half naked or showing your cleavages to the world he wouldn’t have clothed Adam and Eve with coats of Skins.
Remember Adam and Eve covered themselves with aprons, but wasn’t enough.
Genesis 3:7
Were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Genesis 3:21
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
