Jeremiah 17:7-10

“The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse— who can understand it? I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.” vss. 9-10

As Jeremiah continued to present the word of the Lord to the inhabitants of Judea, it appears that he made use of material that can be found in some of the wisdom literature in the Hebrew scriptures, books like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. In this section he uses that material to describe the human heart. And when he says that the heart is devious and perverse, almost beyond our understanding, we know what he means. We’ve learned through the centuries to hide the true feelings of our hearts or mask them with the chocolates, flowers, and mushy notes of Valentine’s Day. And if we can’t know the hearts of those closest to us, we’ve learned to our chagrin that it’s virtually impossible to read the heart of a politician. Certainly their words don’t reflect their core! But Jeremiah says that, even if we can’t know what people are about, the Lord does know, because the Lord tests the mind and searches the heart. And what criterion is used in the Lord’s evaluation? Ultimately it’s a simple test. Our hearts are revealed according to our ways, according to the fruit of our doings. In other words, if we want to know what’s in the heart of a person, don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do.

Thought for the Day: Why is Valentine’s Day a big deal?