As He Thinks in His Heart: What It Reveals About You

The Heart Reveals Who We Really Are

If people could see in our hearts, if they could read your mind, would they still think you were the person you claim to be? When we offer people love, what is our heart really saying? In Proverbs 23:6-7 Solomon explains that we should not eat at the table of a stingy man because even though they may act as though they want you to enjoy the food, in their hearts they regret every morsel you eat.

As He Thinks in His Heart, So Is He

Then we read this line, "As he thinks in his heart, so is he." That one line should cause us to stop and pause. How many times have we done things when our heart was actually resentful? How many times have we dealt with people in an emotionally dishonest way?

In Jesus' time the best example of this were the Pharisees. They superficially followed all the right rules, they prayed and studied Scripture, but their hearts were not in their worship. They pretended to place God first but in reality, in their heart of hearts, they were only worried about what others thought of them. Jesus called out this hypocrisy in Matthew 23:27-28.

Shared meals were an important part of early first century Jewish hospitality customs. They were symbols of friendship and relationship. When they were honestly shared they were reminders of the true fellowship that God wanted with His people. But in this case, the shared meal was a sham. In Revelation 3:20 we see God's desire to be one with His people in love and relationship symbolized by dining with Him.

As MacLaren's Expositons beautifully expresses it,

"So, brethren, Christ at the last will bring His servants to His table in His kingdom, and there their works shall follow them; and He and they shall sit together for ever, and for ever ‘rejoice in the fatness of Thy house, even of Thy holy temple’"(Psalm 65:4).

The Deceptive Heart and the Need for Change

But there is a problem for us. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" It requires discernment on our part to realize if our heart matches our actions. Proverbs 4:23 explains we should "Guard our heart with all diligence." Diligence simply means a steady, earnest, and careful effort. This effort protects our heart from negativity, sinful thoughts and corrupting influences.

Our hearts are vulnerable to temptation. As Christians we want them aligned with Jesus' heart. When we, like the miserly man in Proverbs, have a heart that doesn't align properly it needs to be changed.

Guarding the Heart and True Transformation

So what does guarding your heart actually look like in a normal day? Simply through prayer, Bible study, fellowship with other encouraging believers, and watching what we allow to come into our minds. The more negativity the harder it will be to guard our heart. The more sinful temptation we watch or listen to the more difficult it will be to keep our thoughts on God. The diligent Christian is one who follows Scripture's prescription to become closer to God.

Paul tells us to think on true, honorable, and right things (Philippians 4:8). We are to be thankful in all things. If we do these things our changed heart will be evident to us as well as those around us.

If we don't belong to Christ our natural tendency will be towards sin. The heart will be deceptive because that is all it really knows. Our motives will be naturally selfish ones. The Holy Spirit must do a work in us to change us (Ezekiel 36:26). But that process of change is ongoing. We strive with the help of the Holy Spirit to grow in sanctification and holiness throughout our lives (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Guarding our heart is not just about resisting wrong thoughts but about replacing them. God does not simply tell us to control a sinful heart; He gives us a new one and then renews it daily. As we walk with Him, our desires begin to change. What we once excused, we now resist. What we once ignored, we now pursue. This is not just discipline, it is transformation.

The Battle for the Mind and True Obedience

2 Corinthians 10:5 discusses the need we have to "take every thought captive to obey Christ." We are quite literally in a battle for our minds. The Devil would like nothing better than for our thoughts to be anywhere but on Jesus. His tactics are often deception and distraction.

Are you too busy to worry about where your thoughts are leading you? Do you believe that what you think about is really not that important as long as you live a life that appears to be Christian to others.

Christ is our Lord, not just over our actions but over our thoughts as well. We need to be totally subjected to Him in every area of our lives. To take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to God requires knowing His word and relying on the Holy Spirit to guide us when we don't know what we should think or do.

As Scripture tells us repeatedly, discernment is necessary so we can root out false doctrines and know the proper interactions to have with people. But not just people, our very own minds as well. We confront error with truth, just as Jesus did.

Jesus tells us in John 14:15 that if we love Him we will be obedient to Him. How obedient we are is directly related to what we really love. If we love doing what we want to do more than we love Jesus, it will show in our lack of obedience.

Where do our thoughts go when no one is around? Do we more often think of Jesus and our relationship with Him or do we think more about why we can't have the life we think we deserve?

What we are not talking about here is simply being a positive person. There is nothing wrong with being positive but motivation is what the Lord looks at. Are we being positive so our needs can be met and we believe we will be happier or is our positivity based on glorifying God and being in His will?

We are also not talking about some sort of New Age visualization. We can't summon our future based on our thoughts or by tapping into some sort of "universal energy." The will of God for us should be our desire, not our own will. This issue is not only inward; it also shapes how we discern the hearts of others.

Discernment: Your Heart and the Hearts of Others

But what if we are the guest in the story and not the miser? Solomon's warning tells us not to dine with the miser. We are to discern who around us has intentions that are not what they seem and avoid those people.

Perhaps some people appear to be our friends but can't wait to gossip about us behind our backs. Maybe someone seems generous but holds it against you secretly when you can't pay them back. Sometimes people may show an interest in becoming a Christian, when all they really want to do is argue. The Bible instructs us to be wise when we deal with people.

A Final Test of What You Truly Love

As we look into our own hearts or try to discern the hearts of others, those words, "As he thinks in his heart, so is he" cut straight to the truth. The miser offered a meal with his lips but withheld it in his heart. Jesus does the opposite. He stands at the door and knocks, offering a meal that is fully sincere, fully loving, and fully relational (Revelation 3:20).

The question is simple: Will you push away His invitation like the stingy man pushed away his guests in his secret thoughts? Or will you open the door, sit down at the table with Him, and share a meal of honest, wholehearted fellowship today?