I seem to have confused my 'August 8 with my other August 8'--sorry.

August 8

The Bible says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he,” Proverbs 23:7. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said, “O, generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks!” The Word establishes the undeniable truth that sooner or later, the meditations of ones heart will be manifested in his words and actions.

People are good at feigning kindness, love, devotion to family, faith in God, but ultimately, unless Christ is truly on the throne of a person’s heart, the attitudes that reign there will become profoundly evident. The old joke is that being in church doesn’t make one a Christian any more than being in a garage makes one a car. Funny way to say it, but it certainly is a true statement.

Whether one is openly indifferent to the teachings of Christ and His gospel of love and kindness and salvation or whether he is a hearer of the Word who spouts Christian dogma without allowing Christ’s love to permeate his heart and mind and spirit, he is an enemy of Christ, for Jesus has said that anything but fervent commitment to Him is unpalatable to Him (see Revelation 3:15, 16). In order to be on fire for Jesus, in order to be pleasing in His sight, an individual must be, “transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to evaluate and approve what God’s will is. You will know the Lord’s good, pleasing and perfect will when your mind is surrendered to His,” Romans 12:2.

Until then, all a man can be is a counterfeit of a believer in the One who causes men to become like Him. He will hammer people with the law but never lavish them with the Lord’s love. He will spew doctrine but never hold out hope. He will be an empty shell of the man a Christian is supposed to be. As he judges others without mercy, he is inviting God’s judgment upon himself. Allowing himself to be a self-proclaimed judge in God’s stead, he becomes the devil’s dupe.