Here it is: “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” (Proverbs 4:7)
Wisdom is a matter of the heart: “He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments and live.” (Proverbs 4:4) When a lawyer asked Jesus which commandment was the greatest, He replied that the “first and great” commandment was to love God with all of one’s heart, soul, and mind. (Matt. 22:35-38) Jesus spoke there of all our capacities: emotional, volitional, and mental—heart, soul, and mind.
Since Jesus began with the heart in his reply to the lawyer, I want to speak to the heart issue in this post.
I have already quoted Solomon’s advice to his children that they should, in their heart, retain God’s commandments and live. (Prov. 4:4) He had much more to say: A man who lives by the philosophy that life consists of eating and drinking has an evil eye, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7) Again, “Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.” (Prov. 23:12) And, “My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.” (Prov. 23:15)
He continues: “Let not thine heart envy sinners…be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.” (Prov. 23:17,19) And, “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.” (Prov. 23:26)
In his epistle to the church at Rome, in the introduction to that letter, Paul gives a brief essay on the issues that the original sin, in Eden’s garden, left to the first couple and all their descendants. One of the problems was with the heart: “Because, that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Romans 1:21) So, from nearly the beginning, humans have had a heart problem.
The good news (gospel) is that our heart problem can be fixed! Paul makes it clear in II Cor. 4:6: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
His glorious light has shined in these once-darkened hearts! How did that happen? Well, it was by the gift of grace and the power of God. And it happens instantly when a person—by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8)—believes in his or her heart.
The Ethiopian Eunuch, after the evangelist Phillip had explained to him the gospel, expounding some of the passage in Isaiah 63, believed—and, upon believing, wanted to do what he had seen thousands of people in Jerusalem do after accepting Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost. Thousands of believers were baptized. The Eunuch, seeing water from his chariot perch, asked Philip: “What doth hinder me to be baptized?” (Acts 8:36). And Philip said, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” (v.37)
Salvation is a heart issue. It starts with believing. Paul told the Philippian jailor the same thing when asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The answer: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” It starts in the heart with believing. (Acts 16:31)
So, in his excellent theological treatise on salvation in Romans 10, Paul made it unmistakably clear: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9,10) It all begins in the heart.
Jesus answered the lawyer who had tried to trap Him—by asking which was the great commandment—with the simple yet profound statement, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” It all begins with the heart.
How is it today with your heart? Do you believe? It is not a matter of education, rank, or station in life. Salvation is a matter of believing. It begins with a heart change.
That wonderful truth inspired the 19th-century preacher to write the song that still appears in some of our older hymnals: “Have thy affections been nailed to the cross? Is thy heart right with God? Dost thou count all things for Jesus but loss? Is thy heart right with God?
Is thy heart right with God, washed in the crimson flood, Cleansed and made holy, humble and lowly, right in the sight of God?” (E.A. Hoffman, 1839-1929)
Is it? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:13) It starts with the heart. Believe now. Be saved today. Give your heart to God.
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” (Ephesians 3:17)
P.S. In September 1964, marking my upcoming 22nd birthday, my parents gifted me with a beautiful Scofield study Bible. Inside the cover they wrote these words: “To our beloved son Tony, a token of our love in remembrance of your birthday…. King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, records the instruction given to him by his father in Proverbs 4:5-27. We cannot improve upon these words but choose them as our own desire for your life that you may profit by them. ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.’” (v. 23)
YOU and GOD 