-WHEN JESUS SPEAKS --
-Luke 11:37-12:3

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure, (desperately wicked). Who can understand it? 'I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.'"
---(Jeremiah 17:9-10)

-Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to follow Jesus while He walked this earth--hearing Him teach with parables, seeing Him bless children, confront Pharisees, and do miracles? I think if we had been there we would have found it hard to listen at times because He always spoke the truth about the condition of the human heart. In this Luke 11 passage Jesus confronted the Pharisees about their hypocrisy. They were upset that He hadn't washed His hands before eating (a law they had made part of God's law). So He challenged them: "You're all upset about my hands not being clean, but what about your hearts? Look how filthy they are!"

Jesus never backed down from the hard-core issues of our hearts: jealousy, lust, greed, lying, pride, unfaithfulness. He knew it was out of our hearts that our actions and words flow, and He constantly calls us to holy living--being so transformed by Him on our inside that we reflect Him differently on the outside.

Ask yourself every day, How is my heart doing?
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Are we listening to God and responding honestly to what we hear Him say? If so, it will show through our heart transformation. Amazing!

--Haven Today