TODAY’S INSPIRATION: HOW IS YOUR HEART?

How is your heart? I mean really, is it well? We know our heart is the organ in our chest that pumps the blood around our bodies. We know we need it to live physically. But do you know we need it to be well in order to live spiritually? The heart is a beautiful thing, it can be compassionate, understanding, life-giving and complex. It can be hurt, abused, and broken. God is love and the heart should be a symbol for love. But because it is subject to the flesh and a sinful world, it can be cold, calculating, and unfeeling. It can hurt others simply because it is hurting or broken. Scripture says for us to guard our hearts, but it also tells us that the heart can be deceitful. Hmmmm, deceitful is not good!

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)  

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).  

The only way to guard our hearts and keep it from being deceitful is to surrender it to Jesus. When we give our hearts to God, we stop worrying about all that we can’t control. We slow down, we begin to trust, we let the small stuff roll off our backs. And it is ALL small stuff if you are focusing on the big picture, which is Jesus, the gift of Salvation, and our permanent home with Him. We know that our heart is in a safe place with Jesus, and we can find comfort knowing God will never break or leave it. God is love and the heart is where love begins. When our heart breaks for the things that breaks God’s heart, we do not reciprocate by breaking someone else’s heart. Instead, we still love them as God loves us when we break His heart.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)

“So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, have in the same love, being in full accord and of one mind, Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant that yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 2:1-30)

“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.” (Samuel 16:7)  

“And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their King, of whom he testified and said, “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.” (Acts 13:22)

I am thankful that God looks at the heart of man and not the flesh, because if the heart is right, God can help us change the flesh. If we make a genuine effort to strive for a “good” heart in all our interactions, even with our enemies, the Lord will hear our prayers. And when our hearts are troubled, Jesus will soothe our troubled heart. Love and Blessings…

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)