Your heart is a reflection of your salvation.

Our heart is a direct reflection of the state of our salvation. And it’s not just a matter of being a “good person” because most people’s definition of being a good person is according to worldly standards anyway. People who would be classified as saints by the world but who never accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior and never knew him go to hell every day, unfortunately. Because according to Isaiah 64:6, our good deeds are like filthy rags before God. 

For example, a person’s reluctance or outright refusal to acknowledge and accept Jesus as their lord and savior is a direct reflection of the rebelliousness and wickedness in their hearts against God, no matter how well they may treat others. Because God is looking for both obedience and sincerity. We are saved by grace, but God also doesn’t like lukewarm or fake. We’re not saved by works, but our works and our behavior reflect our hearts. 

Everything we do stems from our hearts. So if the source is truly pure, everything else will be too. It’s like if a doctor were to try to look at just one of a person’s symptoms and decide a person’s condition based on that. The doctor wouldn’t be getting the full picture, which means they wouldn’t be able to give an accurate diagnosis. Instead, a good doctor will ask multiple questions to get a more complete idea of the patient’s problem, and by doing so, the doctor would be able to zero in on the cause of the problem. 

In the same way, God looks directly at the source, and if we do the same, we can see where all of our sin and disobedience stems from. We have to constantly ask ourselves, “what is the state of my heart? Is there any consistent pattern of rebelliousness within me that I’m seeing manifest in my actions?” Because if so, that points to a heart condition.

That’s why Proverbs 4:23 is so powerful. It says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” And thats what determines if we are truly sincere in our faith.