Hearts

Christmas is approaching, and I don't think it is a coincidence that at this time, an incident was brought strongly to my remembrance from when I was young.
My Mom had a booth at an indoor market, something like the photo above. This market assembled together vendors who sold all sorts of food, household items, clothing, you name it. She sold there for several years, and also selling in a booth across the aisle from her was an older couple, the Newmans. Mr. and Mrs. Newman were very close to my Mom, and Mrs. Newman would often walk across the aisle to lean on my mother's counter and shoot the breeze. Finally, Mrs. Newman just kept a chair there, and spent the day sitting and talking with my mother between customers. Once I got into high school, I spent Saturdays at the market, helping Mr. and Mrs. Newman at their booth.
One day, Mrs. Newman gave us the terrible news that she had been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. We were all broken hearted. For me, it was like losing a grandparent. As the weeks and months passed, Mrs. Newman had difficult days more and more often.
One day, we were standing together at my mother's booth, when Mrs. Newman, who was Jewish, asked my Mom if she believed that there really was a heaven. Even though I was only in high school at the time, I knew what Mrs. Newman was really asking her gentile Christian friend: "Is salvation really true?"
I know at this point in my story, many of you are thinking that this was the perfect opportunity to open the scriptures, and give the Gospel to this Jewish lady. I would think that also, but my Mom was not a Bible scholar by any means.  I remember when I first discovered salvation, I couldn't figure out what the Holy Spirit did! I thought I would ask my Mom, who had been raised in a Southern Baptist church until her young adulthood. When I asked her what the Holy Spirit did, she answered, "I don't know." While my Mom was never able to give "chapter and verse", she knew God and Jesus, in whom she sincerely believed.
So, when Mrs. Newman asked her whether heaven was a reality, my mother answered that she absolutely, without a doubt, believed that there was a heaven for us when we died. Mrs. Newman, just looked at my mother's face for several seconds, as if she was looking to confirm that faith that she heard. Satisfied, she nodded her head.
Yes, I know, you might disagree with my Mom's blanket statement regarding the promise of heaven. However, that day, not too long before her death, Mrs. Newman wasn't looking for a Bible lesson. She needed to look into the eyes of someone she loved and trusted, whom she could depend upon to give her an honest answer, the most important truth she could hear at that point near the end of her life. And that's exactly what she got. She got faith and truth from a friend's heart.
That very simplified expressing of the Gospel that day, put all men's great knowing to shame, because it was spoken from the treasure of my Mom's heart to her dear friend.
We can know a great deal of scripture, or not much, and however much we know of it is of great value. However, the truth we know in our hearts, and communicate from our hearts is the real treasure. Heart-held truth is powerful and convincing:
"...The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."   Rom. 10:8-13
Sincere words from our hearts convey not only our own faith and truth, but the love and care we have for the person with whom we are sharing. For God's word, and the gift of salvation that He gave us in His Son, were gifts that originated from, and were wrapped in His love for us (Jn. 3:16-17). The love and the gift cannot be separated. As we bring that same gift to others, we can't forget the wrapping of love that came with it. People can discern whether we speak from a place of genuine caring for them, or not.
I very much believe, especially because God has brought the memory so vividly and repeatedly to my mind at this time, that when I get to heaven, I will see my Mom and Mrs. Newman standing together at a counter, shooting the breeze, waiting for me to join them. At the same time, He is reminding me not to leave my heart out of His gift to all men, because the heart is the most important ingredient.

Our Father gave us His Word from His heart.

"The Father Heart of God"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGgasHvEkDc