“19 As in water face reflects face,
So the heart of man reflects man.
20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,
Nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied.
22 Though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.” (Proverbs 27:19,20,22 NASB1995)
Now this is not for men only but for women and for children, too. And if you have ever seen your reflection in a pool of water, you will understand what this is speaking of. But in our day and time we might think of this more in the sense of seeing our faces in a mirror, which reflects our real faces. And “face” can be used more metaphorically to speak of our character, too. And our character has to do with what is in our hearts, as well.
“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.” (See Luke 6:45; Matthew 15:17-20)
“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:23-25 NASB1995)
So, basically, what is in our hearts is what will come out in our behaviors, attitudes, life choices, thinking, and actions. And these behaviors can be play-acting, too, to put on a show of righteousness while the individual is living a double life, still walking in sinful addiction and not in genuine faith, holiness, and obedience to our Lord and to his commands. So deception is often part of what is coming from the heart in order to deceive others.
And those who are engaged in evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander, and the like, will often try to hide what they are doing in secret, and so they will put on a false face to try to make themselves appear better than they actually are. And even if they know the truth of what God’s word teaches about what will happen to them if they continue in their sin, many will continue in habitual sin against God.
And it won’t matter, as well, how many reproofs they have had from other Christians, throughout their lives, who have tried pointing them in the right direction and away from their sinful addiction, they still continue down the same path of destruction, still going back to the same addictive sinful patterns of behavior over again. For their hearts are hardened to the truth of God’s word, and they remain obstinate, self-willed, and disobedient to God.
And since so many “ministers of the Word” are diluting the message of the gospel, and they are appeasing people in their sins, and they are not teaching God’s commands that we must obey God and his commands, and we must deny self and die to sin daily, empowered by God’s Spirit, or we don’t have eternal life with God, many professing Christians are still walking in sin and not in obedience to the Lord, but while claiming salvation from sin.
But Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).
And we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
Living Water
An Original Work / November 21, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Based off Various Scriptures
My people have forsaken Me,
Their Savior, who died on a tree;
Made idols, and they worshipped them;
So empty, they will ne’er fulfill.
Lord, You are the hope of Your chosen ones.
Those who turn away from You will be shamed;
The Spring of Living Water left behind.
Living Water satisfies.
The thirsty, let them come and drink;
Believe in Jesus as their King;
The gift of Jesus given them,
So they will never thirst again.
Indeed, the Living Water flows within.
It springs up like a fountain cleansing sin.
Eternal life in heaven promised them.
Living Water glorifies.
Oh people, won’t you come to Him?
Obey Him and repent of sin.
Let Jesus come and live within.
Surrender all your life to Him.
My people, won’t you turn your hearts to Me?
Forsake your idols and then you’ll be free.
Won’t you come now to Me on bended knee?
Living Water sanctifies.
The Heart of Man Reflects Man
An Original Work / October 4, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
