Today it is not uncommon to hear that both young and old are victims of heart attacks. That is very familiar to me as my daddy died from a heart attack at age 61 and my brother at age 41. In 2014 a general mailing from the American Heart Association about symptoms of a heart attack prompted me to recognize that my husband was experiencing those symptoms: discomfort in his arm, pressure in his chest, feeling unusually tired and light-headed that resulted in his having two stents in his heart. God recently brought me back to these symptoms that are manifestations of a physical heart attack. He began to show me so much about the “heart” that relates to both physical and spiritual that I feel He wants us to examine—matters of the heart. The chief organ of physical life occupies the most important place in a human system and is the seat of our entire mental and moral activity, both the rational and the emotional elements. The heart is the sphere of Divine influence. Romans 2: 15-16 reveals that it is God’s desire for His Word to be written in our hearts dictating our thoughts and actions as God will one day judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. Acts 15: 8-9 makes it clear that it is the Holy Spirit given to believers that cleanses our hearts by faith.
In the Old Testament “heart” is spoken of 860 times and the law, prophets and Psalms often speak of the heart. The first mention is Genesis 6:5-6: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieves him at his heart.” The question is “What happened to turn the heart of God’s perfect creation into a state of continual wickedness that grieved His heart?” We go back to the words of Genesis 1: 27: “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” While God is infinite and man finite, man possesses the elements of personality similar to those of the Divine Trinity: thinking, feeling, willing. According to I Thess. 5: 23 mankind is composed of spirit, soul and body. God created man and woman in His likeness for fellowship and dominion. Psalms 86: 11-12 reveals the relationship that God desires mankind to have: “Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O LORD my God, with all my heart.”
We must return to the Garden of Eden to answer our question: “What happened to turn the heart of God’s perfect creation into a state of continual wickedness that grieved His heart?” We see in Genesis 3 the introduction of who John addresses in 1 John 5: 19 as the “Wicked One” (Satan) and in John 8: 44 as the “father of lies.” Satan is the adversary of God and His creation. Satan tempts Eve; she eats and Adam with her; result—the Fall. This then is the account of the first “heart attack” in the Bible! Satan launched his attack on the heart of mankind that would become the seat of rebellion and pride. Before the Fall God’s Spirit communed with man’s spirit but after the Fall man’s heart or “soul” (mind, will and emotions) became hardened to God and His voice. In Genesis 8: 21 God said: “…for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Ephesians 4: 18 says that man’s understanding became darkened.
Jeremiah 17: 9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” The phrase desperately wicked in the Hebrew is translated as a terminal illness. Jesus in Mark 7: 21-23 reveals the symptoms of a diseased heart: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. Al these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” It illustrates the human condition that is true everywhere and for everyone without God. God already knew even before the Fall that mankind would disobey and rebel, but He gives each person free will. We are told the pathway to having a healthy physical heart: eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, not smoking, maintaining a moderate weight, avoiding alcohol and getting adequate sleep.
As with choices that we must make concerning a physical healthy heart, Scripture makes it clear how we are to have a healthy spiritual heart. The only hope for the sinful human heart is to be supernaturally changed. Jesus came to inaugurate a New Covenant so that sins could be forgiven and sinners could be born again (John 3:5). As “desperately wicked” people, we cannot reform our hearts by our own effort. The only solution is for God to make our hearts new, washed clean from sin, and filled with His Spirit so that we can hear His voice and follow His ways.
When we are born again, God performs a heart transplant. He gives us a new heart. The power of the Holy Spirit changes our hearts from sin-focused to God-focused. We do not become perfect (1 John 1:8); we still have our sinful flesh and the freedom to choose whether or not to obey it. However, when Jesus died for us on the cross, He broke the power of sin that controls us (Romans 6:10). Receiving Him as our Savior gives us access to God and His power—a power to transform our hearts from sin-hardened to Christ-softened. It is very important for every believer to understand that transformation process.
Scriptures teach us that even though we have the Spirit of Christ living within us as Believers, we still have our old fleshly inclinations—we each have the “flesh” line and the “Spirit” line that wars against one another. The flesh line can be seen as society or the social life and focusing on the things of this world, and putting it off means moving away from that lifestyle and towards the spirit line. This transformation is not about changing outward activities but about growing up into Christ in all things. An old hymn comes to mind called “Take Time to Be Holy” written in 1882. “Take time to be holy, Speak oft with thy Lord; Abide in Him always, and Feed on His Word; Let Him be thy Guide; And run not before Him, whatever betide; Be calm in thy soul; Each thought and each motive beneath His control.” Paul in Ephesians 4: 17-32 instructs the Believer how to walk in the Spirit and put off the flesh: Lay aside the old self corrupted lusts and deceits described by Christ that we read in Mark 7: 21-23. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind by growing in the truth and knowledge of God’s Word. Choose to please God and seek His righteousness and holiness. Lay aside falsehood, speak truth with your neighbor. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Perform honest work and share with others. Speak words that are filled with grace that edifies others. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God that sealed us to the day of redemption. Put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, slander and malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. The human heart was created to mirror God’s own heart (Genesis 1:27). We were designed to love Him, love righteousness, and walk in harmony with God and others (Micah 6:8). God desires that we choose to love and serve Him. With new hearts we are declared righteous before God (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Holy Spirit gives us a desire to please God that was foreign to us in our hardened state. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we “are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” God’s desire for every human being is that we become like His Son, Jesus (Romans 8:29). We can become like Jesus only when we allow God to rid us of our old, hardened hearts and give us new hearts filling us with His Spirit.
God will reveal Himself to a heart that is honest, and transparent, not one that’s full of pride and arrogance. If we do not see the magnitude of the sinfulness of our hearts, the Lord’s sacrifice may not seem significant to us. It is in our brokenness and helplessness that we discover who the Lord is and the power of His Spirit dwelling within us. When we understand the true condition of our sinful hearts and the terrible sacrifice that Jesus made, we will be inspired with deep love and devotion to Him. Ephesians 3: 20 emphasizes that God’s power enables us to do more than we ever hoped or imagined: “immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.” We must open our heart to God through His Word and seek His guidance to maintain a heart in tune with His truth and righteousness!
God did not create mankind to be lost for all eternity. (2 Peter 3: 9) God will enable and empower each of us to witness for Him through His Holy Spirit. Then we have the incredible opportunity to tell others about the desire of God’s heart—that they know Him and grow in Him! May this be our prayer: Dear Lord, tune our hearts with Yours. If there is something about our heart posture that’s a little off or out of tune, we pray that You would reveal that to us so that we can confess it and align our self with You again for Your Glory. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.