The Heart Of The Matter
Kriss Mitchell,
, It is important to know
that above all, the Lord
is concerned about
our hearts. In the Bible,
the word heart is
mentioned 700 times, let
alone other versions of
the word, such as hearts,
hearted,
brokenhearted,
tenderhearted, etc. We
know that when God
mentions
something once it is
important, but the fact
that it is mentioned well
over 700 times implies
that it is of serious
concern to God.
Why is the heart so
important? According to
Proverbs 4:23, out of the
heart flow the issues of
life. If you look up the
words heart and
issues in your Strongs
concordance you will find
that the word for
issues, “towtsa’ah,” is
derived from another
Hebrew word which is its
primary root, “sharats”.
This word means to swarm
or abound; breed
(bring forth, increase)
abundantly or (in
abundance). In this
verse,
God warns us to, “Keep
your heart with all
vigilance and above all
that you guard, for out
of it flow the issues of
life.” Likewise, the
word heart is “leb,”
which means feelings,
will or intellect, but
also
is used to describe the
center of something. So
Proverbs 4:23 could be
read this way, “Keep the
core of your being with
all vigilance and
above all that you guard,
for out of the very
center of who you are,
is created the life you
lead, in abundance.” Our
heart is the creative
force that God gives us
which forms and shapes
our lives. It creates
that which surrounds us,
good or bad. Matthew
12:33-35 shows us that
what we speak out of our
mouths comes directly
from the heart, that we
store up treasure there,
and it is either good or
evil. Our hearts can
either create a good life
or an evil life for us.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 shows us
that as human beings, we
are not aware of
what is in our hearts.
“The heart is deceitful
above all things, and
it is exceedingly
perverse and corrupt and
severely, mortally sick!
Who can know it
[perceive, understand, be
acquainted with his own
heart and mind]? I, the
Lord, search the mind, I
try the heart, even
to give every man
according to his ways,
according to the fruit of
his
doings.” Because we are
born into sin, we can’t
understand the depth
of the condition that we
are in. We perceive life
as normal the way it
is, everything is as it
should be. But the Lord
knows that left to
ourselves, we will create
out of who we are, lives
that will
absolutely violate the
spiritual laws He has put
in place. As a result
of violating these laws
again and again, we will
become so entangled
in the consequences of
breaking these laws, that
our hearts become
severely handicapped,
producing warped versions
of the life that God
intended for us to have.
In Psalm 51, David so
vividly realized the
condition of his heart
and what it had produced
for him that he cried
out to God to create
within him a clean heart.
Jesus is the only one
who can save us, who can
make the condition of our
inner selves clean
again. By the power of
His shed blood, He
forgives our sinful
condition and by the
power of the cross, as we
bring each habit and
pattern of thinking to
God in repentance, He
will cut it off at the
roots, bringing it to
death. It is then up to
us to be disciplined in
that death, not to give
those old habits power
again, bringing them to
life.
Every wounding of the
heart which is not healed
creates a structure
which enables us to keep
on functioning in spite
of the wound. These
structures take away from
our own original and
unique design. They are
defenses we create and
add to what God created
us to be. To bring us
back to our original
design, we must allow the
Lord entrance to our
hearts so that He can
accomplish healing
through forgiveness and
repentance. We cannot do
that for ourselves.
God is always concerned
with the heart because it
is the source of our
problems. It would be a
waste of His time to deal
with our behavior as
that is just a symptom of
the sickness of the
heart. Once the heart is
healed, the behavior will
usually resolve itself.
However, we like to
concentrate more on our
behavior, neglecting to
realize that the very
behavior we are trying to
change is a result of
wounding in the heart.
We use willpower, denial,
the pursuit of
excellence, busyness,
alcohol, or other coping
mechanisms to overcome or
protect ourselves
from the pain in our
hearts.
As we read the Word of
God, we must keep in mind
that most of the time
He is trying to reach us
on a heart level. What
God is mainly
concerned with is our
relationship with Him.
Hosea 6:6: “For I desire
and delight in dutiful,
steadfast love and
goodness, not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of and
acquaintance with God
more than burnt
offerings.” He tells us
that He desires obedience
more than sacrifice.
Obedience to what? To the
great commandment which
instructs us to love
the Lord our God with all
our heart and soul and
strength. If our
hearts are permitted to
remain in their wounded
condition, in not too
long, our relationship
with God will become very
distant.
One of the four basic
spiritual laws is that of
honoring our parents.
The commandment states
that we are to honor them
so it will go well
with us. Conversely, in
every area that we do not
honor our parents,
it will not go well with
us. In Proverbs 6:20-23
it says, “My son,
keep your father’s [God-
given] commandment, and
forsake not the law of
[God] your mother [taught
you]. Bind them
continually upon your
heart,
and tie them about your
neck. When you go, [the
Word of your parents’
God] it shall lead you;
when you sleep, it shall
keep you, and when
you waken, it shall talk
with you. For the
commandment is a lamp,
and
the whole teaching of the
law is light, and
reproofs of discipline
are
the way of life.”
(Amplified) In Psalms,
the Word is described as
a
lamp and a light, showing
us the paths we are to
walk in. But if we
dishonor our parents the
lamp will be put out in
complete darkness.
(Proverbs 20:20) A person
has a hard time finding
his way in the dark.
When the Word of God is
not illuminated to our
understanding, we are
not able to know what God
is saying to us. We can
read the word, but
are unsure of what it is
saying. Our hearts draw
back from God,
blessings are then turned
away and good harvests
are kept from us.
(Jer. 5:23-25)
It is then that a person
can fall into idolatry.
An idol is something
we construct believing
that God is in it. We
begin to read the Word of
God as an instruction
book of do’s and don’ts,
and instructions for
service. We proceed to
follow the instructions,
believing God is in
them, hoping to find Him
and draw closer to Him.
The responsibility
then begins to fall on us
to perfect our behavior,
and we strive to be
better Christians and
perfect parents. We begin
to gain our value and
worth from how well we
perform. We strive and
strive to become more
perfect, struggling under
a belief that says if we
just become better
people, God will love us
more. Once we fall into
this trap, life
becomes about behaving
correctly so God and
others will approve of
us.
Our society tells us that
perfection is the
currency of value and
worth. We must be thin,
we must be successful,
and by no means can we
get old. Our elderly
population is a treasure
that has been thrown
aside for the myth of
youth and beauty.
Are we going in the wrong
direction? Perhaps, but
what if life is not
about excellence or
success or exterior
acceptance? What if all
this
life is about is getting
healed so that we can be
closer to our Lord?
If that is the case, then
life becomes less about
us and more about
God, which is a more true
perspective. We can
welcome struggles and
trials into our life
because they expose what
is in our heart. To
quote a very famous
counselor, “We cannot
change what we do not
acknowledge.”
James said to count it
all joy when we face
various struggles and
trials because the
testing of our faith
produces patience. (James
1:2-3) Patience is a
characteristic of love
and love is a virtue of
the heart.
How is healing
accomplished? When we
allow the Lord access to
our
hearts, we can then see
the root causes which
shape and distort the
issues of life that flow
from the heart. They come
in the form of
judgments we have made
and lies that we have
believed about ourselves,
others, and life in
general. These judgments
are like colored
spectacles that we see
life through. If we
believe life is not safe,
we will strive to protect
ourselves from it. If
people can’t be
trusted, we find
ourselves alone in the
world. If we were not
appropriately loved and
nurtured by our parents,
we find it hard to
bond with those we love
or even understand God’s
love for us. We must
allow the Lord to expose
those places of pain. We
then forgive those
who have hurt us, repent
for the lies we have
believed and our hearts
will be healed. Is it
easy for us to do that?
Often it is not, but the
results are worth the
pain. A healed heart has
no need for coping
mechanisms and it
produces good fruit in
our lives. Out of its
treasure, our mouths
speak good things and the
issues of life create
true abundance.
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