The Helpful Judge of Our Heart

The Helpful Judge of Our Heart

Dr. Tom Hawkes
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

God’s word is a living thing. It has power to work in our lives as the Holy Spirit wields it. The Roman soldier’s two-edged sword was a short, wickedly sharp blade meant for close in battle, meant to cut to the quick. So the Bible in the hands of the Holy Spirit is like a scalpel which penetrates to the very heart of our lives.

Inside our hearts, the word also discerns our thoughts and intentions. The word discern is kritikos, from which we get our word critic. The root meaning is judging. One who has the ability to discern between good and evil. “Able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” reads the more literal New American Standard.

The Bible is not only a scalpel that biopsies our heart, but it also serves as a microscope which performs the pathology study of our heart, able to judge where the sin of cancer lies. It is the Bible then that judges us, our actions, thoughts, and even our intentions to show us our sin. 

As the reformer, Johannes Oecolampadius wrote. “Clearly it distinguishes between godly and ungodly thoughts, between upright and distorted intentions of the heart in such a way that nothing could do it better.”  

The problem is that we often wrongly judge our own actions right and our motives pure.

We judge wrongly because we judge by the wrong standard. We usually ask, “Did it make my life easier?” “Did it make people like me more?” The right questions are, “Did I obey God’s word?” “Did I honor God?” The only way to answer these questions is by searching the Scriptures.

Instead of searching God’s word, many Christians will “shop for a yes.” They will ask different friends for advice until they find someone who agrees with what they already wanted to do. They follow this bad advice and feel justified, even claiming that their desires are from God. As John MacArthur said, “If you didn’t find it in the 66 books of the Bible, God didn’t say it.”

We must let God’s word judge our lives, all of it, not just our actions, but the thoughts and motives behind them as well. As we submit ourselves to the penetrating judgment of God’s word, he leads us away from sin, and toward his heart. 

Knowing the power and usefulness of the word, let us apply it to our lives daily. In the hands of the Spirit, the word judges and cuts away sin, while also conforming us to the perfect likeness of Jesus. Let us cry with the Psalmist: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalms 139:23-24). God’s word, sharp, penetrating, judging, leads us in the way everlasting. The word leads us always to Jesus Christ.