Heart Reflection

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As in water face reflects face,
so the heart of man reflects the man.
Proverbs 27:19 ESV

Have you looked down into still water only to see yourself looking back? A physical appearance is what we see. Water or a mirror show us at least a vague mirror image of the one doing the looking.

As a face is reflected in water,
so the heart reflects the real person. NLT

As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart. NIV

As in water face reflects face,
So a man’s heart reveals the man. NKJV

Who can see a reflection of the heart? The heart is inside and does not reflect anything outward. The heart does plenty on the inside like beating regularly, keeping the blood flowing through our bodies, carrying nutrients hither and yon, keeping us alive. When a doctor runs an ECG (EKG) on one’s heart, a graph of it beating can be seen with the eye. When the doctor places a stethoscope on the heart area, he/she can hear the beat.

Illustration of heart with heartbeat, electrocardiogram,

Unless a cardiologist or other doctor is listening to or opening up the chest cavity to care for an actual physical heart problem, I tend to feel that my heart and I are on our own most of the time. I may reflect a piece of my heart by telling someone I love them. I also may share what “is on my heart” with another.

These ways are not the only ways my heart is reflected. Words and actions can reveal what my true heart nature is like. I may try to conceal, rather than reveal, this heart nature, my true nature. But God can see my heart for He knows me well. He created me, knowing my nature. He knows the thoughts in my mind and the nature of my heart. I cannot hide from God. No matter what travels in and through my heart, and should I try to conceal such from showing up in my expressions, in words from my mouth, or in my actions, they are still inside my heart. God tests my heart to grow me, to move me in and through these hidden, torturous plagues of the heart.

O LORD of hosts, Who tests the righteous,
Who sees the heart and the mind,
let me see Your vengeance upon them,
for to You have I committed my cause.
Jeremiah 20:12

…but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God Who tests our hearts. 1 Thessalonians 2:4

What ensnares me from having my heart be in that very place that I want it to be so I can stand so close to my God? Do I hold envy there? or fears? or anger? or jealousy? or what? What keeps my heart from reflecting the heart that God made?

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. James 1:23-24

I want nothing to block my heart, nothing to be hidden there. I do not want any one to stumble because of me. Yet, perfect I am not, except in Christ…some day in Eternity. I desire God’s tests so that I will be more and more able to reflect the image of Christ Jesus from the inside-out and the outside-in.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18

Father, You know my heart. I so desire to reflect Jesus in all I am and all I do for I am Your daughter. Forgive me when I try to conceal things that I know are not of You. Guide me so that there is less and less of those things hidden in my heart. I want my focus to be on You, LORD, and not on me. May my heart reflect the love and beauty that is You. Walk near to me as I walk near to You, O LORD. Mold my heart and make me more and more into Your perfect vessel. I am Yours and will do all that You ask and require of me, LORD. Thank You for hearing my prayer tonight. With adoration, thanksgiving, and praise, I pray in the Name of Jesus. I love You, Father. Amen.

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