The Heart of the Matter

God wants your heart.  Over and over and over again the scriptures place the emphasis on the inner life.  In the Bible, there are more than 800 direct references to the heart.  There are more then 300 direct references to the soul.  And there are more then 100 direct references to the mind.  Beyond this, there are countles allusions to the soul, countless allusions to the mind, countless illusions to the heart.  God is constantly addressing the issue of the heart.   I think we need to stop and ask ourselves why?  Why would God hammer home and speak to this particular issue so frequently.

In the Proverbs we read, ‘Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.’ {Proverbs 4:23}  In other words, just as a river flows from its source and waters an entire village and feeds the crops and sustains life in that village.  That’s like your heart.  It is the fountain-head from which all of life flows. And that’s why, for God the essential aspect of our life is the heart.  The first commandment is love the Lord your God with all of your heart…  because it all flows from there.

And I think that’s part of what makes this thing so difficult for a lot of us.  Jesus wants our hearts.  And He ruthlessly and aggressively pursues our hearts until they are His.  But that's not necessarily what we always want.  Giving God access to our hearts can get messy.  It can get ugly.  We don't really want God digging around at the core issues of our lives.  So we'd rather just pretend like everything is ok, even when it's not.  

The problem with this is over and over again God attacks right action that doesn’t have a right heart to it.  Jesus said, ‘This people draws near to me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.  And in vain they worship Me.’ {Matthew 15:8-9a}  What that means is, you can do all the right things, but if your hearts are in the wrong place, it doesn’t please God.  God wants our hearts.  If our hearts aren’t engaged, then our worship and our work for God are in vain.  True worship engages the heart.  Dutiful worship is a contradiction in terms.

Ok, so what should those of us who aren’t there and aren’t experiencing that in their hearts do?  I mean, I’m talking to those of us who are here and would say, my hearts just not there.  My heart’s dead.  Or maybe, you used to have this sweet real intimate connection with God but lately your heart has just become cold.  What can you do? 

Here's what Jesus had to say to a church that had lost that love and feeling... 'Remember from where you have fallen from, repent, and do again the first works.'  His advice to the church in Ephasis was, go back to what it was like in the beginning.  And repent of your sin, and then just fall in love with Jesus all over again.  

--Daniel