The Heart

Every time we hear phrases like “I love you with all my heart” and stuff like that. I thought about it and a verse came to me. Its Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” It says that our heart is deceitful and there is no cure for it. Even we can’t understand it. Jesus also said that its what comes out of a man that makes him unclean. Check out these verses from Mark.

Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' " Mark 7:15.

For 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.' " Mark 7:21-23

From these verses, we can see that the heart is not a very nice place. Look at the ‘stuff’ that come from it! Evil thoughts, greed, deceit,…the list goes on. The word ‘heart’ can mean a few things besides our physical pumping heart. It refers chiefly to our feelings and our thoughts. Here, in Mark, I think it refers to thoughts that breed in our heart.

You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34

In the verse above, Jesus also said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So, from here its clear that the heart is far from good. It is a breeding place for evil thoughts like those stated above which in turn changes into actions when it is full grown. The underlined portion of the verse below reinforces this point.

rebellion and treachery against the LORD,
turning our backs on our God,
fomenting oppression and revolt,
uttering lies our hearts have conceived. Isaiah 59:13

This is what our hearts became because of sin: corrupted and vial.

Then what about the verse that says we must love the Lord with all our heart?

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' Matthew 22:37

How can we love a pure, holy and awesome God with a heart that is so deceitful? It is not an optional commandment…It’s part of the greatest commandment! We are called to love God with all our heart! Note that before the Fall, man was perfect and could love God with a pure heart but things were different after the Fall. That’s why Jesus Christ had to come and die for our sins and cover our hearts with the blood of Christ so that we may come before God. Without such forgiveness and cleansing, how can we even stand in His presence?

We stand before God purely by His grace and mercy. With our hearts cleansed before God only can we love him with all our heart as well as love our neighbour as ourselves. That’s why we are commanded to love God with ALL our heart. He deserves our all after what He has done on the cross to sanctify and purify our hearts so that we can have a close relationship with Him.