The Bible says in Matthew 15:8, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.” As is the case today, so was it back in the days when Jesus lived on this earth. Many people claim to follow Him, they talk about Him, to outsiders they even would appear to BE followers of Jesus Christ because of what they say, but they don’t follow Him with their heart. And it is ONLY when we give Him our hearts and TRULY follow Him that our lives can be changed.
Jeremiah 29:13 reminds us, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
The Bible PLAINLY tells us we CANNOT truly have a relationship with God and love this world. We CANNOT truthfully expect God to work in our hearts and our lives when we are still trying to control them, and when we have not given them to Him.
I’ve been reading a lot of J. C. Ryle’s writings lately, and I couldn’t put it more plainly than he does about the heart: “The heart is the main thing in true religion. I make no excuse for asking the special attention of my readers, while I try to say a few things about the heart. The head is not the principal thing. You may know the whole truth as it is in Jesus, and consent that it is good. You may be clear, correct, and sound in your religious opinions. But all this time you may be walking in the broad way which leads to destruction. It is your heart which is the main point. Is your heart right in the sight of God? Your outward life may be moral, decent, respectable, in the eyes of people. Your minister, friends and neighbors, may see nothing very wrong in your general conduct. But all this time you may be hanging on the brink of everlasting ruin. It is your heart which is the main thing. Is that heart right in the sight of God?”
I fear there are thousands of people out there in the world today who “THINK” they are Christians simply because they know about God and the Bible and even go through some of the actions that a Christian should go through. HOWEVER, You can tell if you are truly a Christian by examining your heart! It’s NOT something to play around with. Your happiness in this life and for ALL of eternity depends upon this. WHO HAS YOUR HEART?