A person’s actions are influenced by what is in the heart. It is much like the way a car moves according to the person driving it. Even with the same car, a calm driver will drive steadily, while an impatient driver may drive recklessly. By watching how a car is driven, we can often tell something about the person behind the wheel. In the same way, a person’s words and actions reveal what is in the heart.
God created man in His own image, and therefore the first man was without sin. His heart was pure, and he lived a life pleasing to God. But through the temptation of the devil, man sinned, and as a result his heart became corrupt and began to produce all kinds of evil. Jesus said:
“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” (Mark 7:21–23)
Having departed from God and come under the power of the devil, mankind could produce nothing but sin. Therefore, by nature, man was under the wrath of God. The apostle Paul said:
“Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” (Ephesians 2:3)
Such people needed God to give them a new heart. God saves those who believe in Jesus Christ and gives them a new heart and His Spirit. Scripture says:
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26–27)
Zacchaeus is a good example of this transformation. Before he met Jesus, he had lived a sinful life as a publican. But after receiving Jesus, he said:
“Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” (Luke 19:8)
When Jesus heard this, He said:
“This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:9–10)
Jesus did not declare Zacchaeus saved simply because Zacchaeus had decided to become a better person. Rather, his words and actions revealed that a new heart was already at work within him.
In the same way, when a person believes in Jesus and is saved, God gives that person a new heart, and a different kind of life begins to follow. A bird does not have to struggle to live like a bird; it naturally lives according to what it is. A pig does not have to make an effort to live like a pig; it naturally lives according to its nature.
The same principle can be seen in the love of parents for their children. Parents do not normally struggle to force themselves to love their children. They love them naturally because that love is already in their hearts. When Solomon judged between two women who both claimed that the same child was theirs, he commanded that the child be divided in two. He knew that the true mother, because of her love for the child, would rather surrender her own claim than allow her child to die.
Just as a person’s actions reveal what is in the heart, a person’s faith is also revealed through works. Faith and works are connected and work together. Scripture says:
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:26)
When God commanded Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering, Abraham was able to obey because he believed the promise of God:
“That in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” (Hebrews 11:18)
Abraham believed that God was able even to raise Isaac from the dead. His action was therefore the outward expression of the faith already present in his heart.
Rahab was another example. When two Israelite spies came to Jericho, she hid them among the stalks of flax on her roof, misdirected those who were searching for them, and later helped the spies escape from the city through her window.
She did this not because she had already seen the outcome of the coming battle, but because she believed that God had already given the land to Israel. She confessed to the spies:
“I know that the LORD hath given you the land… for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.” (Joshua 2:9–11)
In this way, although what is in the heart may be hidden for a time, it eventually reveals itself through words and actions. Faith is the same. True faith bears fruit in a person’s life. Jesus said:
“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” (Matthew 7:16–17)
The apostle Paul also exhorted believers:
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
A person lives according to what he truly believes, and that faith will reveal itself through the fruit of his life. Therefore, if we want to know whether our faith is genuine, we should examine what kind of fruit it is producing in our lives.
Works are the evidence of a person’s faith.