Numbers 5-6
Mark 4:1-20

“I seek You with all my heart...”    —Psalm 119:10

If we take a survey of the Bible, we find there are about 500 mentions of “the heart.” But what is a biblical understanding of “the heart”? When the Bible speaks of “the heart,” it is not talking about the physical heart pumping in our chest, which causes our blood to circulate efficiently in our body. Similarly, when a boy says to a girl, “I love you with all my heart,” we know he does not mean, “I love you with all of the thing pumping in my chest.” What the boy means is, “I love you with everything that I am.” The heart is the seat of our mind, our emotions and our will coming together to form our real self. When Scripture talks about “the heart,” it is not just a mind thing; rather, it is our whole being. In other words, “the heart” describes the real person in us.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (NKJV). Take note that the verse does not say, “As he thinks in his mind,” because we do not just think with our minds, we think with our hearts, which feeds into our thinking, our desires, our aspirations and our will. The heart represents the core of who we are. Probably the most important thing about us is our heart, which is why Proverbs 4:23 instructs us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Out of our heart, comes everything else.

Sometimes in the language used during conversion, we talk about Jesus coming into our heart. That is actually not in the Bible, but we understand the meaning of it to be inviting Jesus into the center of our being, right into the heart of everything we are. Paul tells us, “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). It is not simply with our minds that we believe, as James tells us: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19). Our mind, of course, is crucial, but even the devil believes things with his mind too. The implication of it, however, is that his heart is not there with his belief because to believe this truth with the heart is to surrender and recognize that God is God.

As Christians, our faith in God is not just a belief with our mind but a giving of our whole being as we invite Jesus into our heart.

Lord Jesus Christ, more than just a belief in You, I want to surrender my life into Your hands and recognize with all my heart that You are God. Thank You, Lord.