Part 2 The Heart

[HKHaugan]

“If your heart is not in it it’s not going to work.” That’s not only a fact. It’s the plain truth. That’s the ‘heart’ of the matter, the way things are when it comes being human. We are what our heart allows us to be. We can rely on any number of belief systems, have tremendous reasoning ability and justify any action but when you are walking through ‘the valley of decision’ it is the heart that makes the difference.

If we look at the common uses of the word ‘heart’ we can see, even feel, how centered it is in our experience. We can be broken-hearted, disheartened, downhearted, fainthearted, heart lifted, hardhearted, heartless, kindhearted, simple hearted, stouthearted, stubborn hearted and wholehearted. It is the subject of songs, novels and movies. Its complexity, its perplexity as well as its motivations bring us all into the land of mystery. To unlock the heart is to know the depth of one’s self. Yet no one but God has really ever revealed why it is central, what makes it so important and how it works best. ‘Heart’ appears more than 750 times in Scripture. In all of them the heart commands the center of attention, of concentration and of intention. It is the heart of a child that needs the heart of the parent for maturity just as adults are really older children who need the heart of our heavenly Father to continue to grow in stature and wisdom.

It is the heart of Jesus that exemplifies the Father’s intention for us. His heart was seen in its compassion, integrity, stability, character, assurance, obedience, love and grace. Then in the face of opposition we see Jesus’ heart in His consistency, fearlessness, patience and dependence on His Father in the Spirit as He responded to every hostile attack. Jesus’ entire bearing in the presence of others drew people to Him and that included even his enemies. As you read the accounts of Jesus in the Gospels it was His open heart that exposed others to themselves, their inner attitudes, their heart’s condition and their crying needs. From the most accepting to the most hostile no one walked away untouched in their hearts. It was His heart confronting others at the deepest level that finally was too much for the sinful human hearts of social, political and religious leaders. Their hypocrisy and fear exposed, they had no recourse but to respond with the only way they could cover themselves, the Cross.

But it is the condition of our hearts that concerns the Lord the most. His heart is so different from ours. Think for a moment about the heart of Jesus. Yes, it was His heart that bled at His death. But that was the ‘copy and shadow’ of His unseen heart, the blood of which is seen in His tears for us. Knowing His Father’s will that His death was the only way to let His heart become our heart it was His heart He sacrificed for His Father and for us.

What was that heart like? How He felt, How He sighed for His people. His heart was new and unique. Unlike us who lead with learned techniques and guarded handshakes from hearts filled with fear, Jesus led from the heart. He had no hesitation as He reached from within extending Himself into the hearts of others. His was an impression unlike any other. His purity was His natural sincerity of presence. Unlike our idea of purity being the opposite of impurity, His was not learned, practiced or affected but the revelation of a purity never seen before. The very same can be said for His compassion, His love, His courage, His anger, His sadness, His joy, His magnetism and His grace. In Jesus the disciples and all who followed Him saw the heart of God; the heart of a real Father, the heart of a real Son and the heart of a real Spirit. But in Jesus they also saw the heart of a real man, a real person, a real Savior and a real Lord. His Cross was the promise that His heart could be ours and His Resurrection its proof.

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more (Jer.31:33-34).”