Heartfelt

We know that the heart is an organ that pumps blood. With a quick look you can also discover that the Bible uses the term "heart" over 1,000 times. Now you may be surprised to find that they were so aware of the inner workings of the human body, and you'd be right because that was not the intent of the authors of Scripture. In our day we understand "heart" to be in contrast with "mind." You know, "Follow your heart, not your head." The heart, in this context, is primarily your inner emotions and desires. That is not what the Bible means when it uses the term. So perhaps, since we're supposed to love God with all our hearts (for instance), we ought to discover just what God's Word means when it talks to us about the heart.

In Scripture the heart is not a reference to the pump that keeps your blood moving; it is a reference to your innermost being. It isn't a reference to your feelings, except as so far as your feelings are part of your innermost being. "Man looks on the outside appearance, but God looks on the heart" (1 Sam 16:7). The heart is the deepest "you," whether it is talking about your heart or God's heart. You are what you are in your heart (Prov 23:7). We know that the heart is deceitful (Jer 17:9). "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders" (Matt 15:19). The heart contains the intellectual functions, the emotional operations, the volitional components (2 Cor 9:7), the moral code. Since the human heart is sinful, we need a new heart (Jer 31:33). When we are made new, that is exactly where Christ dwells (Eph 3:17) -- not the organ that pumps blood; the core of "you."

"Follow your heart" is popular, but given the problem of sin that resides in the heart, perhaps that isn't the best option. If the heart is the innermost being, infected with deceit and sin, we would obviously need a heart transplant. A heart indwelt by Christ would be much better, but that one is much, much more than "how I feel." It is the soul -- mind, will, and emotions -- under the influence of Christ. Create in me a clean heart, O God.