God Looks on the Heart
God Looks on the Heart
…the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.1 Sam. 16:7 KJV
Man looks at and judges self and others by the outward appearance—physical appearance, beauty, intelligence, wealth, talents, gifts, reputation, works, accomplishments.
Not only does God tell us that He does not judge by outward appearance, He tells us not to either.
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Jn. 7:24 KJV
God looks on the heart. What is in the heart is way more important to God. This is apparent from this scripture and many others. If the heart is of utmost importance to God, we would be smart to at least take our own heart into consideration.
It is pretty difficult, if not impossible to truly know everything in our own hearts. See my previous post, God Tries Our Hearts, for further explanation of that point. We need help from God to know our own hearts but there is one factor that acts like a symptom that we can look at that gives us a very good clue.
The “symptom” that acts as a clue to our hearts
What are you saying? This is the clue to what’s in our hearts.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Luke 6:45 KJV
Listen to what you are saying. Is it good or evil? Is it full of faith or full of doubt? It is loving or hateful? (You could use the fruit of the Spirit as a good guide here as well from Gal. 5:22-23.)
What kind of “fruit” is your “tree” producing?
Consider what you and others are saying as “fruit”—an indication of what kind of “tree” you are.
For every tree is known by his own fruit. Luke 6: 44 KJV
Look at your own fruit first
You would be wise to listen to what other people are saying according to these verses but you would be wisest to first and foremost to listen to what yourself is saying.
…cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye. Luke 6: 42 KJV (please read the entire passage in context Luke 6:41-45)