The True Heart Revealed
“A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” Matthew 12:35
When times of testing and trials come, the true attitude of one’s heart is what is revealed by a person’s speech and actions. If one does not have God’s Spirit indwelling within his or her heart, he or she does not have a well of righteousness from which to draw. What the unbeliever says or does under pressure from others or outside forces are the results of the sinful nature which rules the hearts and minds of the unregenerated. Their thought processes, words that they speak, and actions that they take are limited to their world view. How and what they think is not based on God’s word, but on their upbringing, environment, and life experiences.
A wild animal can sometimes be trained to become tame and docile, but its nature cannot be truly changed. In a split second, its wild nature can overtake it, and it can lash out at the slightest provocation. Watch an ordinary house cat, who has been living a life of ease, confront another strange cat in the neighborhood. They both fall back into their natures, stalking one another, growling, and then all of a sudden, they lunge at each other and the fur flies. Their wild nature, which is inbred in their species, is still within them. I made the mistake of trying to pick up my cat a few minutes after he had just exhibited his wild nature with another cat, and he bit me in one of the blood vessels in my hand. I had to go to the emergency room. That was a painful and expensive lesson to learn. When I returned home, he was as docile as ever as if the whole incidence had not even occurred. I didn’t blame him. I should have known to leave him alone until he calmed down.
In Jeremiah 13:22-23, the prophet, in addressing the refusal of those in Judah to admit their sin which was to result in God’s punishment, used a metaphor to emphasize the lack of perception among God’s people. Can the Ethiopian, a dark-skinned man, change the color of his skin or can a leopard change his spots? If those two things were possible, then it would be possible for those who are evil to become good on their own. But it wasn’t possible nor is it possible today for someone to just decide to be a better person. That might work for a day or two, but then something ruffles the feathers, and the “do-better” reverts right back to his or her old ways. Jeremiah spent years warning the people of Judah to repent or else, but the people only dug in their heels a little further, keeping to their sin and refusing to throw themselves on God’s mercy and repent of their egregious rebellion. Their hearts were darkened, and evil had become the way of life for them. They didn’t even want to change.
Man can control his sinful nature to a point but without the Holy Spirit to guide him, he stands completely vulnerable to the schemes of Satan. The indwelling Holy Spirit is a good treasure, a very good treasure. We might call Him our heavenly Banker who is our fiduciary over our spiritual bank account. A fiduciary is one who holds something in trust for another. He guarantees that the good treasure of righteousness which is placed in our hearts when we receive Christ as Lord and Savior will be kept safe and available to us that we may draw from it. Psalm 119:11 is the formula for maintaining integrity and purity: “Hide God’s word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him”. God’s word releases good things from the good treasure of our hearts.