The heart is a relatively unique organ, but in addition quite complex. While there are physical and scientific definitions of the guts that denote it as an important 4-chamber muscle that’s used to pump blood throughout the body, there may be one other side of the guts that’s just as complex in nature and has two sides we must stop to know.
As Christians, our hearts are the source of life, in each the physical and spiritual sense. We can deal with our hearts within the physical sense by eating healthily and exercising. However, as you well know, all of us cave to those cravings for chocolate or determine to take a seat it out relatively than go for a needed walk.
The same applies to our spiritual heart, so to talk. When it involves our “spiritual heart,” we’re in a relentless battle inside, where one side bends to our own fleshly desires, and the opposite longs to serve and honor the Lord. This is why it’s crucial to know the character of God’s heart before we are able to come to grips with our own two sides.
God’s Own Heart: The Heart of the Matter
The Bible is filled with scriptures that capture the sweetness and perfection of the guts of our God. We must realize that God’s heart is the very essence of Who He is. It depicts His loving nature, His desires, His will, and plans. His heart is a mirrored image of affection with a purpose.
Being made in His own likeness (Genesis 1:27), we are able to see that God’s heart consumes feelings just as we do, but with pureness, holiness, justice, and righteousness. We see our God express joy (Nehemiah 8:10), compassion and mercy (Psalm 25:10), and even righteous anger (Romans 12:19).
Yet, while God’s emotions that stem from His heart are perfect, also they are sensitive to our words, deeds, and actions, because He cares so deeply for us. Deuteronomy 5:29 speaks to the dear heart God has for His beloved children.
Oh, that their hearts could be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands at all times in order that it’d go well with them and their children ceaselessly!
Now read that verse again, but, this time, read it out loud. Can you hear the longing that God has in His voice for you? Our good and gracious Father is earnestly crying so that you can abide in Him, to faithfully obey Him, and to let Him lead you. He is wooing your heart to hunt after His own.
Our God, the Romantic
God wants every thing to do together with your heart! Let that soak in for only a minute. The flawless and excellent nature of our God’s heart seeks after our own “fleshly” and totally imperfect, messy heart– wow! It’s truly quite humbling.
Friend, God wants our heart, not since it gives us physical life (which He may give and take at any moment in line with His will), but since it opens a gorgeous opportunity for us to have an intimate relationship with Him, allowing us to live this life to the fullest. That said, God doesn’t want us to follow our hearts; He wants our hearts to align with His!
God knows that after we follow our heart, it might probably result in a lot misfortune, as our heart is innately selfish and inwardly motivated. Our heart leads us to do deceitful and even wicked things (Jeremiah 17:9). Our heart has a natural line of defense, because it puts up partitions to protect against getting hurt. It mechanically reacts in haste or stores up bitterness when it’s stricken with betrayal or slander. It quickly becomes overbearing and devious when it feels it’s getting attacked. Our heart is of course bent towards sin and has been because the fall, making it deceptive and desperately sick.
Yet, God’s heart calls us to live in a way that places our hearts in His hands and allows us to live in a way contradictory to our natural tendencies. It gives us the means to see this world, and others the best way He does, as a creation worthy of affection. Basically, if we love the Creator, we love His creation! We do that by placing others before ourselves, loving with a heart stuffed with compassion, praying for many who persecute us, and increasing grace to our enemies. God commands us to go against the ways of our flesh and soften our hearts to bear the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22).
This is why God’s Word has so many verses that time to the character of our own hearts: They will naturally fail us and deplete us of life. Proverbs 4:23 reminds us to protect our hearts, pretty much as good (or evil) can spring from them. In Psalm 51:10, David pleads with God to create a recent heart inside him and revive his spiritual joy. Jeremiah 17:9 points out that we’re innately sinful, and “following our heart” will only end in idolatry of self.
How Do We Love God with a Fallen Heart?
Can we actually love God with our whole hearts in the event that they are riddled with deception? Honestly, tending to the guts is a tough game. Just as we may pick up that extra cookie when the doctor says to reduce on sugar, we’re apt to harbor resentment after we get cross or sideways with others.
Knowing this, how exactly are we to “clumsily” love God with our whole heart? Take a have a look at two similar verses below. One present in the Old Testament and the opposite within the New Testament.
Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your strength. These commandments that I provide you with today are to be in your hearts. Deuteronomy 6:5-6
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind. ’This is the primary and biggest commandment.’ Matthew 22:37-38
Both of those verses reveal a command in addition to a precious promise. Read them out loud and hearken to how God commands loyalty and faithful love from the Israelites. He is telling them that His love will lead, provide, and protect them in the event that they place their trust in Him (Deuteronomy 6:5-6). Then within the New Testament, we see how Jesus replied to the religious leaders on the time as they were questioning Him about “God’s law.”
God doesn’t expect perfection from us; He knows we are able to’t deliver that. God is searching for our submission and a give up of our hearts. How can we do this?
- We must submerge ourselves in His Word to fuel our hearts, minds, and souls with Truth.
- We must earnestly and fervently seek our God through prayer to attach our hearts and souls to Him.
- We must decide to love others the best way He commands us to (Matthew 22:39).
Love is the best commandment. Love God. Love others. The truth is we are going to wrestle with our hearts on a consistent basis, but through a each day selection of give up and submission, we are able to stumble into God’s grace and love Him with our “whole heart.”
Will you pray with me?
Father, thanks for being such a sort, good, and loving God. We are humbled by Your love and that You seek to have a relationship with us. Lord, we would like to be Your humble servants and devote our lives to You. We need to love and live in line with Your will and purpose. Please grant us the strength to give up our hearts to you and love with compassion, kindness, and gentleness, while extending grace. We really need to like You with our whole hearts. As we stumble through life, may seek to hook up with Your heart. Amen.
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