The scripture has much to say about our hearts because it is the core our very being. The heart is more than the seat of our emotions. It is a place where all our thoughts, emotions, and will conglomerate to the point that they create our perspective.
Our slant on issues, our attitude towards circumstances, our outlook on life, and a whole host of other things have been shaped through our hearts. This makes the heart a very important part of our lives. It is the one that will dominate how successfully or unsuccessfully we will navigate through life and how we well will respond to God in our journey.
The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9
The scripture tells us that we don’t even know the condition of our hearts. We can deceive ourselves because we can say or do the right things for a long time to the point that we begin to think that our hearts must be doing well.
People generally have a public face where they look polished and say the right things to be accepted, but it is generally the unexpected and the intense pressured situations that really show what is deep down in our hearts. It is like an iceberg where the visible part is the outward social part of our lives that looks spiritual, positive, and restrained, but we don’t know what is deep down in our hearts until the hidden and the invisible part gets exposed to us. We can also put on a public face when we are in unsafe environments. We say or do things that are acceptable by those around us to avoid being rejected or shunned.
What is the condition of your heart? Are you joyful or fearful? Are you content or anxious? Are you able to be honest with God? Are there fears or disappointments that have affected your heart?
2 thoughts on “The Condition of Our Hearts (Part I)”
Tim Merfeld
The condition of your heart is so big. Our motives and behaviors follow that condition, but yet the Bible says No man really knows his own heart. A theological tension. Yet, God gives Us enough truth about our heart that still keeps Us accountable to it. God does keep that in consideration. The phrase getting your heart right is a Christianese phrase that is more religious that realistic. Can a person’s heart become perfectly right with God? Biblically speaking our heart cannot become sinless or perfectly right before God. Sin will exist, and our understand of our own heart will always be limited. Out of the heart flows the wellsprings of life. I think generally, when We have a lifestyle of repentance, the sins We do in a transgressive way can be minimized because We seek holiness and righteousness by the Spirit rather than the works of the enemy. This is a broad and deep subject on the heart.
The condition of your heart is so big. Our motives and behaviors follow that condition, but yet the Bible says No man really knows his own heart. A theological tension. Yet, God gives Us enough truth about our heart that still keeps Us accountable to it. God does keep that in consideration. The phrase getting your heart right is a Christianese phrase that is more religious that realistic. Can a person’s heart become perfectly right with God? Biblically speaking our heart cannot become sinless or perfectly right before God. Sin will exist, and our understand of our own heart will always be limited. Out of the heart flows the wellsprings of life. I think generally, when We have a lifestyle of repentance, the sins We do in a transgressive way can be minimized because We seek holiness and righteousness by the Spirit rather than the works of the enemy. This is a broad and deep subject on the heart.
Thanks Tim. I will address some of those issues in the next devotional.