There are probably words your grandparents use that are not in your vocabulary because their meanings have changed over time. Language evolves over the course of a generation and exponentially so over the course of centuries. Interestingly, there is a word concept that has stood the test of time—a very, very long time. It’s the idea that the “heart” is the seat of thoughts, motivations and emotions within the inner person. There are dozens of modern phrases that include the word and, by extension, the internal concepts that accompany it. “She had a change of heart,” “home is where the heart is,” “wild at heart,” you get it.
The same word with the same assumptions is used in the Bible. In both the Old and New Testaments, the word translated “heart” in English is, in fact, “heart” in the original languages. The first use of the word is in Genesis 6:5-6 (twice) in relation to mankind and God.
The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
The attributes the word communicates are so important that God uses them to distinguish between doing a good deed and the heart that lies behind it. In 2 Chronicles 25:2 King Amaziah “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart.” Pharoah, Zedekiah, the Pharisees and others hardened their hearts. In several verses the word rendered “pride” in English is more strictly translated a “pride of the heart.”
The point is that the heart matters. We know this instinctively within our own relationships. A wife knows the difference between her husband giving her a gift and him giving her a gift from the heart. We know what distinguishes a “thank you” from heartfelt gratitude. If we recognize the difference, how much clearer is it to the Lord who looks on the heart?
In fact, the heart behind an action is a matter of eternal consequence. Consider the gospel itself. First, we are called to repentance. There is not a soul on the planet that is so persuasive so as to convince God that he is truly repentant when his inner thoughts, motivations and emotions betray his smooth words. Second, we are directed to exercise an exclusive faith in the work that Jesus accomplished in His death and resurrection. Never has anyone existed that was so earnest in her profession of faith so as to fool God when her heart contradicted it. No! He knows when people honor Him with their lips while their heart is far from Him.
When God told the people, “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning” (Joel 2:12), He was describing the fruit of wholehearted repentance. When the scribe said, “to love [God] with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:33), he was commended by Jesus for describing the fruit of an authentic profession of faith.
Just as the start of our Christian walk is a matter of the heart, so is the ongoing journey. We are to serve Him with our whole heart and seek God’s favor with our heart. We are to give cheerfully from the heart and give thanks with all our heart. A godly life is one in which the thoughts, motivations and emotions are committed to pleasing God. Let’s ask God to help us live enthusiastically for Him. Let’s commit to living for Him from the heart.
Joshua 22:5
Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.