Once More with Feeling

May 23, 2025

Good people do good things because of the good in their hearts, but bad people do bad things because of the evil in their hearts. Your words show what is in your heart. Luke 6:45 CEV

There it is again – straight from the lips of Jesus. You do good or evil based on what is in your heart. Your words show what is in your heart. Our words and our actions show who and what we really are. We commonly say, “Actions speak louder than words.” In a sense that is true. But Jesus said our words are a huge flashing neon light all by themselves, showing what is truly in our hearts. If we genuinely believed what Jesus said, we would be much more careful with our words.

Jesus used the example of fruit trees to show how that works. An apple tree can’t bear oranges; a peach tree can’t bear cherries. Each tree can only produce what it is. So, when hurtful, ugly words come from our mouths they testify that we have a hurtful, ugly heart. When bad decisions come from our lips, they are initiated by a corrupt heart.

David realized that he had a bad heart. Psalm 51 is his prayer of confession and repentance after what was inside of him came out in a very destructive way. He didn’t guard his heart. He got distracted. The trail of bad things that flowed from his bad heart shocked even him. There was a day he would have never believed he would lust after another man’s wife. He never would have believed he would seduce her with his invitation to his palace, then actually move ahead to a relationship with her. He never dreamed he would lie about it and even send her husband into battle where he would certainly be killed in order to cover up the pregnancy that resulted from the affair. He was like all of us. When we neglect our heart, when we do not guard it and we let the wrong things in, we always go further than we thought we would.

David didn’t immediately confess that his heart was bad. The prophet Nathan confronted him and told him that his bad, corrupted heart had wreaked havoc on his life and the ones he said he loved, most especially God. David finally owned the truth. He had neglected his heart and his heart went rogue. It filled with evil, and David didn’t even recognize it. That evil came out and even his power as king couldn’t stop the effects.

When David acknowledged the condition of his heart, he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10 NLT). If we work with God, our heart will learn a new vocabulary. The words that flow from our hearts will bring blessing, and the actions that follow the words will build, not destroy.

• Create in me a clean heart, Oh God. May the thoughts of my heart, the words of my mouth, and the actions of my life be ones that please You and build my family.

(For people who question like me – how could David write both Psalm 139 and Psalm 51 – the results of a bad heart in one and the way to have a good heart in the other? Psalm 51 was written about 10 years before Psalm 139. He grew.)