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)
This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them”.
(Matthew 13:13-16)
Background
The heart. There are currently over 1,000 references to the heart in both the old and new testaments. The heart is referenced in most books of the bible…a continual reminder in scripture that there are few truths as important as guarding or improving the composition of our hearts. The repetitive emphasis on the heart throughout scripture implies this topic is massively important to God. It should be to us.
Understanding the context of the heart requires an understanding of the Greek word “kardia”. Our western culture frequently more narrowly interprets the heart to be the source of emotions. The Greek definition, however, extends the definition to include the mind…or our thinking.
Put another way, for those of us intent on truly guarding or improving the composition of our heart it is important that we increasingly add disciplines into our life that shifts our thinking and invite God to transform our hearts and minds.
Reflections
With the advent of technology and apps, I’ve wondered what if an app was developed that could monitor our thoughts and chronicle our thinking on various topics? What would it reveal?
What % of our time over a year would be focused on:
– Sports – News and/or current events
– Sex – Money
– Food – TV shows or Movies
– Vacation planning – Retirement dreams
– Politics – Self-help or fictional reading
– Exercise plans/goals – Social media
or…
– Thinking about scripture – Righting an injustice
– Worshipping – Praying
– Helping an orphan/widow – Reaching out to sharing good news
A mind increasingly focused on the second list leads to a heart whose texture becomes softened. A heart that increasingly sees the world and our own lives through God’s eyes. A life that is now much more likely to identify and pursue God’s plan for us to cast incredible light in a dark world “for such as time as this”.
It is interesting to me that certain topics such as leadership & seeker attraction have been of pinnacle church focus over the last 20 years (and I do believe in leadership development). However, I have this gnawing feeling that God may be most pleased with movements that are focused on heart restoration.
Craig Groeschel, pastor of Life Church, recently said, “Your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts”.
So…if a theoretical thought app was introduced, what would your stats reveal about your strongest and most frequent thoughts? Where is your life moving?
Lord, you know that this has been a topic that you have been trying to get me to understand more fully for the last few years. You also know that I think all too often about the items on the first list above. There are many parts of my heart that are still hard. That need to be softened. In some cases to be reconstructed. Solomon asked You to give him wisdom and understanding. I ask that you change my heart. You are the great heart surgeon. Please. Amen.
What if as a church body we deliberately took action and added activities into our daily disciplines that increasingly shifted our thinking?
What if our new thinking implored us to more action? And the church increasingly was known to lean in…when others did nothing?… that the lives of Christ followers (and their hearts) were so different from others in culture.
What if God used our new thinking and new hearts to restore our marriages and relationships?
What if... 