Christian Living
Matters of the Heart
Initially, I was going to entitle this article "keeping a guard on our hearts" as a sequence to my previous article regarding guarding the mind. However, once I began to research the depths of all of the matters associated with the heart, I decided to change the title.
Matters of the heart are vast. I don’t believe that we really take time to consider all that is associated with our hearts. The first matter that probably comes to mind is love, but that is only one of the many concepts that arise. Jesus taught that the first and greatest commandment we received is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our mind and all of our soul. Yet, as we strive to love God with all of our heart, we must still deal with the issues of living.
Solomon wrote that we are to keep our hearts with all diligence, for out it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23. The issues of life are primarily issues that deal with relationships albeit business, romantic, familial, or friendships. Jesus said out the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness and blasphemies. It seems that these are some of the bad issues that can spring from the heart but if we keep guard over our hearts there are good issues that can also spring forth. For instance, in the Songs of Solomon, the Shulamite woman asked Solomon, “set me as a seal upon your heart.” I now understand, what she knew. When love is set as a seal on your heart, it never departs because true love is eternal. It is imprinted for eternity. It has nothing to do with sex, lust or manipulation.
Solomon said, when wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you, understanding will keep you, to deliver you from the way of evil. In the same vein, God asked Job who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding in the heart? In other words, God was saying who are we to question why God gives us the challenges we experience in life. Instead of complaining and harboring negativity in our hearts, perhaps we should ask for wisdom and understanding so that we can learn the lessons that are intended and then graduate to a greater level of spirituality.
Have you ever come face to face with the matters that lie in your heart? Sometimes it can be a frightening experience. Solomon said as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7. He also said, as in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man. Proverbs 27:19. Jesus said, where your treasures are, there lies your heart. In following this line of thought, if we discover what we treasure or value, we can discover who we really are. When my heart is revealed, so too is my true nature and identity.
It is God alone who searches and knows the heart of man. Oftentimes, we ourselves don’t know what is really in our own hearts, good or bad, until we are faced with a situation or circumstance that causes our true nature to be revealed. Jesus said those things that proceed out of the heart, defile a man. Matthew 15:18. He also said out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34. This tells me that I can learn a lot about the heart of a person by listening, with my spirit and mind, to their words. I suppose I can also learn something about myself as well.
Our hearts carry our secret thoughts, desires and wishes. Ultimately, ours actions are a reflection of what is in our hearts, whether good or bad. That is why David said, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my God and my redeemer. The meditations of our heart are our feelings connected with our thoughts. The issues in our heart can be issues of integrity, forgiveness, trust, love, deceit, perversion, pride, etc. Because our character and heart are intertwined, we have to keep those matters which are spiritually uplifting and empowering in our hearts. One of the ways to do this is as David said, your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you. He also prayed to God and asked “create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me.”
The following are some of the biblical teachings that can help us with our heart issues: Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them…power belongs to God; and, wait on the Lord and be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord; have faith in God. for assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And finally, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Written by Lecia L. Shorter
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