From God comes…
From God comes a true heart.
God is very big on heart issues. That’s why the Bible is full of references about our hearts. God doesn’t want us to just serve Him, but to serve Him from our hearts. 2 Chronicles 25:2 (NRSV) tells us about King Amaziah who “…did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not with a true heart.” Another word for true might be sincere.
Obedience is not enough. It’s a start but the goal is to respond to God from our hearts. Hebrews 10:22-25 (ESV) says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
The heart is at the core of our physical existence. We can live without a foot, leg, arm, hand, gall bladder, ear, eye, or even brain functions, but without a heart—we die.
The heart is also central in reference to emotions, illustrated by these idioms. When we eat our hearts out, we are envious. Our heart breaks when we are sad. We lose our hearts when we fall in love. We follow our hearts when we are happy. When we say something from the bottom of the heart, we mean it sincerely. The cold-hearted are unforgiving. When we pour out our hearts, we are telling others how we feel.
We cannot fool God. God knows our hearts better than we know ourselves (Hebrews 4:12). We can pretend we feel a certain way but eventually our hearts reveal our true attitudes. A good heart will bring about good for others. An evil heart will bring about bad for others. The truth will always come out. Our words eventually belie our true intentions (Luke 6:45). We will put time, money, and effort into where our heart is (Matthew 6:21).
Sometimes we use the phrase “to get to the heart of an issue.” That’s what God would like to do with us. He wants to replace our insincere hearts with new ones (Ezekiel 36:26). He actually wants to live in our hearts and be a part of our very lives. When we seek Him with all our hearts desiring a relationship with Him, He readily makes Himself available.
We must guard our hearts because they determine how we live our lives (Proverbs 4:23 NIV). We do this by filling our thoughts with what is true, pure, lovely, good, virtuous, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). We guard our hearts by staying focused on God because only He can give us a true and sincere heart!
“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God…”
~James 1:17 (NLT)
