From the Heart or the Mind

From the Heart or the Mind 

Where does God look within a person to find the likeness of his own heart?  To whom has he chosen to put salvation by sending His Only Son?  When the time for a savior to be born of a woman the message from the Angel Gabriel announced God’s Son was to be the one to redeem the world of sin.   It later occurred first to the poor shepherds and then to those who would eventually believe the Sacred Scriptures.  “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:  the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”  (Is. 7: 14).

Neither did the message from the Angel Gabriel nor the announcement to the shepherds happen with the Scribes and Pharisees or the learned peoples, first.  He was sent to the poor and they were the first to recognize their salvation was imminent.  Jesus came to offer the good news to those who were sick because of sin.  

What did Jesus tell those who disbelieved God’s promise?  “But the Lord said to Samuel; Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him.  Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.”  (1 Sm. 16: 7).  

When God looks into a man’s heart what is he searching for?  “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”  (Lk. 6: 45).  

A testament from the results of those who justify themselves when Jesus said to the Pharisees; “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.”  (Lk. 16: 15).

Be careful that you do not exemplify your own capacity of intelligence to discern the worthiness of another without first looking into that person’s purity of understanding God’s will for him.  The same reason God decided to have His Son’s birth occur in a stable, around poor people, and allow his ministry to reach sinners is the same element we must use to make correct judgements on those we may admonish.  Words that come out of a person’s mouth usually dictate the substance that lies within their heart. 

Ralph B. Hathaway, Heart over Mind.