Blood tests can reveal the condition of your heart but your heart reveals the condition of your faith.
Your heart is important to God. Jesus once told a man that the greatest commandment is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30)
The heart represents our moral choices and motivations. The Bible declares, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7)
The heart reveals the truth. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matthew 15:19)
The heart reveals our priorities. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
The heart is also the source of our faith. “'The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,' that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:8-10)
We must beware because the heart can deceive us. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
A bad heart can fail you when you need it. It can become numb and cynical and eventually cause your death. Because of this we need is a heart transplant from God. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)
Just a new physical heart allows you to do things you could not do before, a new spiritual heart will allow you to love God and put away shame, bitterness and deceit.
A new heart must be protected. The first heart transplant recipient lived 18 days. Since then we have learned how to take better care of a new heart. We must protect our hearts spiritually as well. “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)
Jesus said that some hearts will reject His message; those hearts that are occupied with competing priorities. Prayer, worship and trust are the keys to loving God with all our heart.
Blessed
are the pure in heart because they will see God.
Matthew
5:8
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