March 12, 2010

The following is located at: http://www.buildingchurchleaders.com/articles/2010/heartistarget.html

The Heart is the Target
Start where life change starts.
Paul David Tripp | posted 2/16/2010

NOTE: This article appears in the resource Counseling toward Repentance.

If you want to be part of what God is doing in the lives of others, you need to understand how God designed human beings to function. Why do people do the things they do? Christ's answer to this question comes through one of the most important word pictures of the New Testament:

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43-45)

There is an organic relationship between the roots of a plant and the fruit it produces. Christ is saying that the same is true with people.

In his metaphor, fruit equals behavior, and the roots of the tree equal the heart. The particular fruit this passage discusses is our words. Christ says that our words are literally our heart overflowing. People and situations don't make us say what we say, though we tend to blame them. ("He made me so angry!" "If you had been there, you would have said the same thing!") Rather, this passage says that our words are controlled by our hearts.

We recognize a tree by the fruit it produces and, in the same way, the Bible says people are known by their fruit. Meanwhile, the roots of the tree are underground and therefore not as easily seen or understood. But Jesus' point is that a tree has the kind of fruit it does because of the kind of roots it has: we speak and act the way we do because of what is in our hearts.

Christ's illustration, then, establishes three principles that guide our efforts to serve as God's instruments of change in the lives of others.

There is an undeniable root and fruit connection between our heart and our behavior. People and situations do not determine our behavior; they provide the occasion where our behavior reveals our hearts.

Lasting change always takes place through the pathway of the heart. Fruit change is the result of root change. Similarly, in Matthew 23, Christ says, "Clean the inside of the cup and dish and the outside will become clean." Any agenda for change must focus on the thoughts and desires of the heart.

Therefore, the heart is our target in personal growth and ministry. Our prayer is that God will work heart change in us and use us to produce heart change in others that results in new words, choices, and actions.

What Is Ruling Your Heart?

What, then, does the Bible tell us about what we should look for in the heart? Consider this rebuke God aims at some of the elders of Israel who come to inquire of him:

These men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? Therefore speak to them and tell them, "This is what the sovereign LORD says: When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry. I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols." (Ezek. 14:3-5)

Although these elders had questions they wanted to ask God, He refused to talk to them about anything but their idols. Until they were removed, these idols—"wicked stumbling blocks before their faces"—would distort and obscure everything else in these elders' lives.

So here we see an indication that human beings are worshipers by their very nature, and that everything we say and do is shaped by worship. We are always serving either God or some aspect of the creation, so we must remember this principle: whatever rules our hearts will exercise inescapable influence over our lives and behavior.

This principle has several applications for personal growth and ministry.

Our hearts are always being ruled by someone or something.

The most important question to ask when examining the heart is, "What is functionally ruling this person's heart in this situation?"

Whatever controls my heart will control my responses to people and situations.

God changes us not just by teaching us to do different things, but by recapturing our hearts to serve him alone.

The deepest issues of the human struggle are not issues of pain and suffering, but the issue of worship, because what rules our hearts will control the way we respond to both suffering and blessing.

Every human being is a worshiper. This worship shapes everything we do and say, who we are, and how we live. This is why the heart is always our target in personal ministry.

Adapted from Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, © 2002 by the author and published by P&R Publishing.