Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Hebrews 4:11-13
Wilhelm Roentgen was a German physics professor who accidentally made one of the great advances in both science and medicine. While testing the properties of cathode rays in 1895, he found that the rays would pass through most things while leaving behind shadows of any solid objects they encountered. He called them x-rays, using the standard scientific notification for an unknown. News of the discovery spread rapidly, and just a few months later in 1896 x-rays were used as part of a medical examination. This new technology gave doctors powerful tools they had never had before to see what was inside the body without performing surgery. Roentgen received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901, the first time that particular prize was ever awarded.
Just as is true of the body, there are many things inside us that cannot be visibly detected. Our thoughts and motives may be seen by what they produce outwardly, but until some action is taken they are invisible to other people. God, of course, sees and knows everything about us but He has also given us a tool we can use to accurately diagnosis our own hearts and minds. This is critical because left to ourselves and our own wisdom and judgment we cannot accurately assess our true thoughts and feelings. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). The more we shine the light of the Word of God through our lives, the more obediently and successfully we will live.
