The Eyes of Your Heart

“My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways …” (Proverbs 23:26)

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened …” (Ephesians 1:18)

Motivated by these two verses, I have been studying the biblical connection between the heart and the eyes. This is my conclusion:

When we focus on our own or others’ outward appearance and performance, we are not seeing what God sees. As Jesus emphasized, we need to start with the heart. Only changes made in ours and others’ hearts will make any real or lasting difference.

Our behavior flows from our heart. Changing our behavior or appearance never changes our heart, but changing our heart inevitably affects our behavior. This “one-way street” is the “law of the harvest,” that we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7). We can know someone by their fruit because, “As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.” (Proverbs 27:19; Matthew 7:15-20) Everything starts in the heart. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).

What makes a desire good or bad is not its object as much as its heart. This is why “to the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure” (Titus 1:15).

Matters of the heart have to do with living persons, dynamic relationships, and true loves. Thus “laws” and “principles” are a “dead-end street”—powerless!—to change the heart. Only the living Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, interacting with our own living spirit, can change our heart. Our hearts are strengthened by God’s grace, not by the strange teachings of others (Hebrews 13:9).

This is major surgery, certainly NOT minimally invasive. The scars become gifts of the Master Surgeon whose skillful hands never make mistakes.

Our heavenly Father urges us, “My child, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways!” When God has our heart and our eyes are on him, we know truth, joy, freedom, and peace. (Otherwise, just like “the camera,” our eyes always lie!)

[Excerpted from “What Do You See with The Eyes of Your Heart?” Request an electronic copy of the full study by email to daniellesliepeterson@gmail.com.]