What Lies Beneath : Elliott Cook

In the human body, the heart is absolutely essential for living. Beat by beat, it keeps life flowing through the body, and is arguably the most important physical organ in the body. You don’t have to be a doctor to know that when the heart stops beating, life itself ends. The first thing a paramedic checks when they show up on the scene…. they attempt to find a pulse. The beat of the heart is evidence that you are still alive. Without the heart, everything that life offers, ceases to exist. That is an obvious truth about our natural man; however, what lies beneath the natural man is the heart of the Spiritual man.

Proverbs 4:23 NIV - Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

The Bible tells us that everything we do in this life comes from what is in and affecting our spiritual heart. Our direction in life; how we view situations and circumstances; our attitude about issues; our speech; the excuses we give and even our secret motives… EVERYTHING, comes from what is inside our hearts. This is why we are commanded to watch and guard our heart most importantly, because we are responsible for what comes out of it.

The problem is by default; our heart is deceitful and evil because of our inherent sin nature and its selfish ambitions, always striving to find pleasure and satisfaction.

Jeremiah 17:9 NLT says - The heart is deceitful above all things and is extremely sick; Who can understand it fully and know its secret motives?

What lies beneath the surface hidden from plain sight? What lies beneath the deep recesses of your heart? Sometimes only God really knows.

Our very own hearts have the tendencies to fool us, to deceive us into thinking we are always right, and that our motivations in life are pure and sincere. We can’t be presumptuous and naive to this spiritual truth, and get blindsided by the reality of a man’s heart and the secret intentions of why we do the things we do.

Proverbs 21:2 (AMP) says, Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs and examines the hearts [of people and their motives].

Motive means - a reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden or not obvious. Our motives are very important to God. The reason why we serve Him and others matters the most to God. After all, if God has your heart, everything else will come after Him. Often times, since we don’t know what is in our hearts, it is God’s job to examine our heart’s motivations, but it is our responsibility not to harden our hearts to Him, but to continually surrender every area of our lives to His amazing grace and unfailing love. His love changes everything, including the secret motives and affections of our hearts.

Philippians 2:12-13 (AMP) says, So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instruction with enthusiasm] not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ]. For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.

Church, let's do our part, guard our hearts above all else, and let God do the rest of the work He promises to complete.