We are not speaking in a romantic, philosophical, or literary manner. What does the Bible say about the heart?  The Bible mentions the heart almost 1,000 times. The bible says the heart is our spiritual pump that puts forth our emotions and desires. 

Acts 13:22  After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’

Jeremiah 3:15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.

So scripture says God also has a heart. May we be blessed with leaders that follow His heart. 

Consider this… After the fall of man in the Garden, we have been affected at the the very heart of our being. Our mind, emotions and desires have been tainted by sin—and we refuse to see it, we are blind to our own condemnation. There is this unsettling fact that while we may not understand our hearts, God does. 

Jeremiah 17:10“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”

In Mark we are confronted with the scriptural truth of our being.

Mark 7:21-23   For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

There is no wiggle room here so to speak. We may blame a host of things on the things we do but we are reminded that the problems we have are from within…we all have a heart problem and it is not medical. How long has it been since you heard a Hell and Damnation Sermon? I think we all realize that there is more to life than a set of rules to follow and not doing so will bring rejection from certain segments of our society. This brings us to one of those dirty little secrets of Christianity. For Christians it is a Matter of The Heart. In God’s world it is not a matter of rules or the law, it is about the commands given by God to His people from the time of creation and on…it is about Jesus and his teachings to us during his ministry. It is about salvation and the fact that we must change…our hearts must change and that only happens through the power of God, through our faith in Him. 

Romans 10:10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

God will test us… Psalm 17:3 Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed.

We will complete our time in the Pew today with this Proverb:

4:23 Above all else, guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it.

We are living in a time of uncertainty and only our faith and our God will bring us through it. The Pew tries to stay out of politics but today this thought is warranted …maybe Governments all over the world need to examine their HEARTS. 

Life is Good

jk 

Resource Material –  gotquestions.org