Proverbs 12:20

“Deceit fills the hearts that are plotting evil; joy fills the hearts that are planning peace.” NLT

Deceit is defined as “the act or practice of deceiving; concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading.” When a person is plotting evil and trying to hurt others, they are not joyful. They might think they feel good about hurting someone, but it is NOT joy.

When we are planning peaceful kind of things, we have joy in our hearts. Joy and peace go together and are both a fruit of the Spirit. God designed us to have a void in our hearts for Him. But we try everything worldly to fill it. When/if we ever accept Jesus as our Savior, we have these fruit of the Spirit to live by. And we don’t want to plan evil things. That’s MUCH better than living in worldly ways.