Saturday, August 7: It is a matter of the heart!

“Young at heart” refers to people who might not be so young in age, yet still love with reckless abandon. Typically, as we age, love involves a different level of trust, as most people know what it feels like to have their hearts broken. Consequently, to completely give your heart to another, you must feel strongly that they will not rip it out and trample upon it. In the Bible, there are many aspects of the heart. It has emotion, will, intellect and conscience. While emotion is the ability to love, will is the ability to fully carry out a plan, regardless of circumstance. Intellect involves the ability to reason, and finally, conscience is the ability to distinguish right from wrong, based on feeling. David often wrote of the heart in the Psalms. Here is one of my favorite examples:


10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
Psalm 51:10-13


For God to clean our hearts, it is first apparent that they are unclean. Certainly, it is easy to understand how the filth and slime of the world can cause us to love incompletely, to reason without logic, to change course on our legitimate plans and lastly, to vacillate on matters of morality. Even as Christians, our hearts become soiled, yet God has the ability and the desire to make them clean again. It is also obvious that a heart does not clean itself, like a self-cleaning oven. Instead, the process involves breaking. Only God can clean a heart!


The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 51:17


What breaks our hearts as Christians? Sadly, our sin accomplishes that task, as when we realize the burden that each transgression places on the shoulders of Jesus, we understand that we are no different than the Jewish officials who falsely convicted Him, the Roman soldiers who crucified Him, or the on-lookers who made fun of Him. If our sin doesn’t break our hearts, then we are walking in ignorance of the work that Jesus accomplished on our behalves. David seemed concerned that God would take the Holy Spirit from him. Understand that the role of the Holy Spirit was not the same in the time of David as it is for us in the Church Age. When Jesus returned to heaven, He left the Comforter in His place, to be with us always. Though we can ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit, as believers, He continues to reside within us. Still, the issue remains of whether we choose to walk in the Spirit or walk in the flesh. When we are walking in the Spirit, the joy of salvation is obvious.


Each of us can remember what it was like to walk in the new freedom of forgiveness after becoming Christians. God desires for us to hold that thought dear in our hearts. Have you ever noticed a couple in their advanced years walking hand-in-hand along the beach? Occasionally, we get the benefit of seeing how real love actually grows in time. While the physical expression of that love might not be as strong, there are couples who finish the sentences when the other speaks. Deep love involves deep knowledge and understanding of the recipient of that love. On the other hand, we also can picture a couple out to dinner where no word is exchanged between the two. Love has evolved into a bitter struggle, for they both have lost sight of what drew them together to begin with.

Which relationship do you have with God? His heart has the same aspects of emotion, will, intellect and conscience, yet God’s heart never changes. If the relationship is struggling, it has everything to do with the mistakes of your heart! We cannot have true joy in the Lord without obedience to God and His laws. It might seem like the opposite, but true freedom does not occur until we walk in His will. God is the only one we truly can give our hearts to without having Him let us down. That was the beauty of the cross. When God chose to depart heaven, to come to this sinful earth and die for us so that we could know His love, He demonstrated that to us all. If you have lost your joy, follow Him more closely and He will restore unto you the joy of salvation! Broken hearts might involve pain, but without that brokenness, we cannot know God! Do you want restoration? It is certainly God’s desire for each of us!


Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Revelation 2:4