We are what is inside our heart. We can camouflage our deepest thoughts from others, but we can’t fool God. He knows and sees all.
Jesus affirmed this truth: “Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man” (Matthew 15:17-20).
RELEVANCE
David, the man after God’s own heart, learned that two forces can have dominion over our life: the dominion of Satan, the kingdom of darkness governed by judgment under the “law of sin and death;” or the dominion of the Kingdom of God, governed by grace under the “law of the Spirit” (Romans 8:2). He knew the key was what was in his heart. He knew it by the things he meditated upon and confessed inwardly to himself and also outwardly to others.
Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.
(Psalm 19:12-14)
REFLECT AND RELATE
Which dominion dominates your thought life?
How can you bring your thoughts into greater alignment with those of the Kingdom of God?
REFERENCES
Proverbs 27:19