He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight. Luke 16:15
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7
For out of the heart come evil thoughts--murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Matthew 15:19
"I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve." Jeremiah 17:10
These are just a few examples of the human heart mentioned in the Bible. God's emphasis on the heart pervades Scripture, mentioned specifically and implied through many situations and circumstances. The English word appears in no fewer than 878 references in the Bible, with the related Hebrew or Greek words appearing in another 55 passages and translated as either "mind" or "understanding." Of the 66 books of the Bible, only seven do not specifically use the term but make implied reference is matters of the heart.
This article today is not about the heart as a vital organ, the muscle that pumps blood throughout the body. Neither is it about the romantic, philosophical, or literary definitions of the heart. The focus of this discussion is the heart as the spiritual core of humans, where our emotions and desires form, distill and flow forth in our choices, actions and attitudes.
Before we look at the human heart, its important to understand that since God has emotions and desires, He, too, can be said to have a “heart.” We have a heart because God does. David was a man “after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). And God blesses His people with leaders who know and follow His heart (1 Samuel 2:35; Jeremiah 3:15).
That said, the heart of man is distinct from either "soul" or "mind." This is made clear from the Lord's emphasis in His allusion to Deuteronomy 6:5, as recorded in Matthew 22:37: "Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:27). But just what is this heart that God so explicitly requests love from? One must collect the biblical data before a correct conclusion can be drawn.
The phrase "with all your heart" is used 20 times in the Bible, citing the heart as the key to obedience, love, and service (Deuteronomy 10:12); repentance and turning back to righteousness (1 Kings 8:47-49); trusting in God's direction (Proverbs 3:5-6); and, of course, believing and trusting in the promise of salvation (Acts 8:37; Romans 10:9).
The human heart, in its natural condition, is evil, treacherous and deceitful. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” In other words, the Fall of man has affected us at the deepest level; our mind, emotions and desires have been tainted by sin—and we are easily blinded to just how pervasive the problem is.
We may not understand our own hearts, but God does. He “knows the secrets of the heart” (Psalm 44:21; 1 Corinthians 14:25). Jesus “knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man” (John 2:24-25). Based on His knowledge of the heart, God can judge righteously: "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve." (Jeremiah 17:10).
Jesus pointed out the fallen condition of our hearts in Mark 7:21-23: “From within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean.” Our biggest problem is not external but internal – all of us have a heart problem.
Even with this knowledge, that the heart can be the source of evil things, it is the core of the human condition and a “good heart” is absolutely necessary for a right relationship with the God of eternity. The heart is the fountain from which the nature of a person is revealed. Several obvious statements to this reality are made in Scripture:
"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23)
"...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34)
"A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things." (Matthew 12:35)
Whatever the heart may involve, it is clearly the source of our "real and true" character.
Our heart can commit sin – even apart from carrying out the actual deed (Matthew 5:28) and is naturally linked to the "treasure" we lay up for ourselves (Matthew 6:21). The heart is capable of religious deceit (Matthew 15:8), and in its natural state is full of wickedness (Jeremiah 17:9). If left to follow its natural inclination, the heart will become hardened and unreachable with the truth (Mark 6:52; Romans 2:5). Indeed, it appears that we have the ability to harden our hearts even beyond their natural tendency to rebel against God (Hebrews 3:8). No wonder Paul cried, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24).
The answer to that desperate question is, of course, the "new" heart that comes with the "new birth" (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10; 10:16). God promises that we will find Him if we seek Him with "all [our] heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). We are also told that even the "desires" of our hearts will be granted when we delight in the Lord (Psalm 37:4). Once we have learned to trust God, our hearts can rejoice and be glad (Psalm 28:7; Zechariah 10:7), ultimately reaching a steady "comfort" and full assurance that acknowledges the great mysteries of our relationship with God (Colossians 2:2).
The HEART is essential to a relationship with God and our hope for eternal life. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that the heart is vital to our behavior, our salvation, our understanding, and our commitment--either to righteousness or to evil.
Still, what IS the heart? The heart can reason (Ecclesiastes 7:25; Mark 2:8), and has "thoughts and intents" (Hebrews 4:12). The heart is in some way connected to our flesh (Ezekiel 36:26; 2 Corinthians 3:3), but is also definitely associated with our conscious understanding (Proverbs 2:2; 15:14; Matthew 13:15; Ephesians 4:18). But this connection goes deeper than the conscious mind. The heart is the source of a "hidden man" that produces character qualities (1 Peter 3:4). The heart can feel pain (Nahum 2:10) and anguish (2 Corinthians 2:4), as well as sorrow or joy (Isaiah 65:14).
It seems that the heart is inextricably intertwined with our whole human nature, influencing and being influenced by everything we do. It operates something like a network of spiritual connections that senses every thought and every emotion, both external and internal, and will feed back its own desire and focus, influencing and controlling our behavior more than we realize. Perhaps a good illustration would be the operating system of our computers – Windows, Linux, or the "heart" of an Apple Mac OS. The programs that we use – Word, Excel, Photoshop or email are the training, education, habits, and associations that we develop in our lives. But the operating system, the heart of the computer, controls what can be done with the programs and whether or not they respond as expected or lock up or crash.
No wonder God longed for "such a heart" that would fear Him and obey Him, so that we might be the beneficiaries of His blessings (Deuteronomy 5:29). God cannot, of course, reward evil any more than He can be evil. Although God's love for us has moved Him to sacrifice His only begotten Son on our behalf, He nonetheless will not acquit the wicked (Nahum 1:3). Before we can have our hearts made righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21), we must bring them into a "contrite and humble" state (Isaiah 57:15), one that is "broken" before His holiness (Psalm 34:18; 51:17). When the heart believes (Romans 10:10), repentance (Acts 8:22) leads to an enormous change in the "natural man" (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Obviously, since this huge change is not a normal human event, it must be brought about by the supernatural power of the great Creator Himself (2 Corinthians 5:17). And since it is God who is creating the new heart, there is no possible result but that the new heart is created "after God… in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:24).
Once the event of the "new creation" takes place, culminating in a person’s “baptism [joining with Christ] we are given a NEW heart [a clean slate, a new start], an operating system, that can run the "programs" of righteousness immersed in holy living. After the new birth, it becomes possible to fear (or "reverence") the One who created us, and to keep the commandments that are all recorded in our "Owners Manual," also known as "The Bible." While no analogy is totally satisfactory, this may help us to understand how essential our heart really is in working out our salvation (Philippians 2:12). If we would desire that it be "well with [us], and with [our] children" (Deuteronomy 5:29), then we must "keep [our] heart with all diligence; for everything you do flows from it" (Proverbs 4:23).
In order for a person to be saved, then, the heart must be changed. This only happens by the power of God in response to our growing trust and faith. “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.” (Romans 10:10). In His grace, God can create a new heart within us (Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 36:26). He promises to “revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15).
God’s work of creating a new heart within us involves testing our hearts (Psalm 17:3; Deuteronomy 8:2) and filling our hearts with new ideas, new wisdom, and new desires (Nehemiah 7:5; 1 Kings 10:24; 2 Corinthians 8:16).
So... what IS the human heart? The heart is the core of our being, and the Bible sets high importance on keeping our hearts pure. It’s a full-time job protecting our hearts and guarding our “core operating system” from viruses that could poison us to the core and ruin our relationship with God. “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
