The Heart

Every person has a heart, both physical and spiritual. The spiritual (immaterial) heart is a part the soul, the inner being of a person that can’t be physically touched with human hands. As part of the soul, the heart is connected to the mind, spirit, and will, therefore it determines actions and is powerful enough to determine the course of a person’s life (Prov. 4:23). The heart is the storage box of the soul. It holds emotions, thoughts, and beliefs. 

The Heart & Emotions

The heart is where emotions reside. Emotions include feelings, wants, wishes, and desires. All of these things come from the heart. The busyness of life makes it very easy to neglect emotions, but they are very important because they can drive thoughts and actions (i.e. the mind and the will). Emotions are a vital component to overall health and well-being. Refusing to submit them to God can result in dangerous deeds. Sinful emotions such as envy, jealousy, and pride all come from the heart. Emotional pain also impacts the heart. This too must be submitted to God in order for emotional healing to take place. 

The Heart & The Body 

Because the heart is a part of the soul, its condition affects the physical body. Proverbs teaches that a peaceful heart leads to a healthy body, but jealousy is like cancer to the bones (Prov. 14:30). Likewise, a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength (Prov. 17:22).  

The heart also influences the mouth, one of the most powerful instruments that God gave man. It holds the tongue, which can bring death or life (Prov. 18:21) and requires a great amount of discipline to keep under control (James 3:1-12). This is important when it comes to the heart, because the heart determines what a person says. Jesus explained this during an encounter with a group of Pharisees. He told them: 

33 “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. 36 And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. 37 The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”

~Matt. 12:33-37 (NLT)

The heart Requires Purification 

Because of mankind’s fallen nature, the heart is also where sin resides. The heart can nurse hatred (Lev. 19:17), commit adultery (Matt. 5:28), and plan evil (Psalm 28:3). God knows the heart (Psalm 44:21), for He said:

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”

~Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT) 

A heart that stores sin will produce sin. As Matt. 15:19 explains, “from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.” Therefore, a person’s heart must be purified in order to please God and live a righteous life. 

Purification comes through repentance. True repentance takes place when a person turns their mind (thoughts and beliefs) away from sin and accepts God’s offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. When this happens, transformation takes place. God renews that person’s soul—their heart, mind, will, and spirit, and their actions begin to become more and more like Christ’s. 

This is what Paul wrote about in his letter to the church in Rome. He wrote: 

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

~Romans 12:2 (NLT) 

This is also the reason why biblically sound preaching and teaching are imperative. The true word of God pricks the heart and leads to repentance (1 Cor. 14:24-25). Furthermore, pure teaching corrects misguided beliefs and allows God to change the hearer’s heart (2 Tim. 2:25). 

God’s transforming power is seen in King Saul, Israel’s first king. God changed him into a new person, gave him a new heart, and ultimately empowered him to lead the nation spiritually and politically (1 Sam. 10:6-12). 

King David was also graced by God’s renewing power after lust for another man’s wife led him to commit adultery and murder (2 Sam. 11). From his repentance came the plea, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). God honored the remorseful request and David was able to continue in leadership. 

The Heart & Faith

The heart is the place of faith, whether belief or disbelief. Fear of God (or the lack thereof) begins in the heart and determines the worship (or lack thereof) that follows. As the storage box of the soul, the heart must be in a good condition for faith to grow. Scripture refers to this as fertile soil in the parable of the farmer scattering seed. 

“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. 4 As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. 5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. 6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! 9 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

~Matt. 13:3-9 (NLT) 

As Jesus explained to the disciples, the seed represents the word of God, and the different types of soil represent the heart (Matt. 13:18-23). The word of God is both His spoken word, delivered to individuals and nations through His prophets; and His written word, the terms and conditions of the law and the writings of the New Testament.

Though the Word was initially written on tablets (and later on scrolls as writing advanced) it was always designed to be in the heart. The heart determines actions, therefore it determines obedience, an essential requirement of worship, which is what God has always desired from His people. 

We see this with the Israelites. When they were about to enter the Promised Land, Moses, their leader, prophet, and mediator, gave them instructions on how they were supposed to live as God’s representatives among the sinful nations that surrounded them. He said: 

11 “This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach. 12 It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’ 13 It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’ 14 No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.

~Deut. 30:11-14 (NLT)

Though the Israelites were in covenant with God, they did not keep His commands. Instead of throwing the entirety of humanity away, or starting over again with one person as He did with Noah  (Gen. 6:7-8) and almost did with Moses (Exod. 32:9-10), God decided to make a New Covenant. This covenant does not required his word to be written on stone tablets, hands, foreheads, doorposts and gates (Deut. 6:8-9), but hearts instead. 

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

~Jeremiah 31:33 (NLT) 

The New Covenant is mediated through Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6; 12:24), and is offered to the entire world through faith in Him. This is how God chose to save mankind from the penalty of their sins, which is eternal death. He gave His life as the eternal sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin and made the Father’s desire to write His word on the hearts of mankind possible for all who believe. This is how the descendants of Abraham (Israelites), as well as Gentiles (people who are not born Jewish), are accepted by God. As Paul explained to the church in Rome: 

14 Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. 15 They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.

~Romans 2:14-15 (NLT) 

The seed is planted in fertile hearts through the preaching and teaching of God’s word. If the heart is not fertile, the cares of life and winds of new teachings will interfere with God’s growth process in the believer. A heart that is hard (the result of unbelief, stubbornness, rebellion, and an unwillingness to accept or understand teaching) or crowded with sin (John 8:37) does not allow planting to take place. But as the word lives in the heart (1 John 2:14), it grows to produce spiritual maturity. As Paul explained to the church in Corinth, he planted the seed in their hearts as their apostle, Apollos watered it, but God was the one who made it grow (1 Cor. 3:6). The same applies for believers today. A preacher, pastor, or parent may plant the word of God in someone’s heart through teaching, but God is the one who causes it to grow and produce fruit.