“The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the
mind. Even to give every man according
to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)
According
to Strong’s Concordance #3820, besides being the physical organ, the heart
encompasses our intellect, awareness, and our mind; our inner person, inner
feelings, and deepest thoughts.
Jeremiah
17:9 states that the human heart can be the most deceitful thing in the world,
but verse 10 shows that the Lord is still able to sort out and analyze what
lies within the heart. And as the Lord
searches the heart, He [charges] every man according to his [action and
behavior], according to the [reward] of his [work].
How
easily we, in our human nature, can deceive ourselves by glossing over our own
shortcomings. I can see why the Lord
searches [penetrates] our heart and tests [examines] our mind, for if we were
to do it ourselves, we most assuredly would come to an innocuous conclusion.
Now the Holy Spirit’s job is to show
us the “things” in our heart, the little deceptions in our lives, the ungodly
thought lying under the surface of our conscience, the hateful attitude toward
someone who has hurt us, the lingering unforgiveness that we just can’t let go
of from years past, our self-righteous attitude regarding spiritual things, and
the list can go on and on. “These
things” we should not escape from and “these things” should not remain
innocuous.
As we are reminded by the Holy Spirit
of “these things,” we are then held accountable for our actions and behavior in
remedying the situation.
One of the best gifts we can give
ourselves is to allow God to search our heart, test our mind, and show us our
ways and the fruit of our doings. When
we do, we will then move farther down that path into spiritual maturity.
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