“If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? and shall not He render to every man according to his works?”

                     -Proverbs 24:12

When God judges the earth, the Apostle Paul said He will “…render to every man according to his deeds.” (Romans 2:6) The reason for this is that a person’s deeds will, without fail, give incontrovertible proof of what is in the heart. As it was said by the Lord Himself, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil.” (Luke 6:45)

If our attitude stinks, it doesn’t  mean we’re just having a bad day; it means we have a heart issue that needs fixing. Though it’s easy to try and justify our impatience or irritability by saying, “That’s just who I am!”, the Lord tells us in Luke 6:43 that a piece of bad fruit can only be gathered from a bad vine. In other words, our so-called “bad habits” go much deeper than most people are willing to admit, and oftentimes reveal much more serious spiritual issues that need our attention. Whether it be an addiction to facebook or a bad set of priorities, our heart will always shine through in our actions.

I don’t know about you, but it’s sometimes surprising for me to take a few moments at the end of my day and reflect on how I’ve spent my time. Sometimes I feel like I’ve done okay, yet on other day – especially this time of year – I realize I’ve been pushing God to the sidelines of my life. The important thing, though, is to recognize the source of the problem, not just the outward manifestation of it. Remove the cause, and you’ll remove the effect.