How healthy is your heart? These days it seems that it is a major concern for everyone. Exercise. Eat right. Check your cholesterol. Watch your blood pressure. Learn how to control your stress and fatigue. Then exercise some more. It’s all about taking care of our physical heart because it is an organ that is basic to our survival, isn’t it?
However, we have more than a “physical heart” which God wants us to guard. Over 900 times in the Old Testament the word “heart’ is used. Rarely is it referring to the part of our body that pumps our blood from our veins into our arteries. It is generally used to describe “that inward place that only God sees. It is that place from which our deepest thoughts, feelings and decisions come.” (C. Swindoll) In Proverbs 4: 23 we are given the following wise instructions, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”.
When Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy , he made it clear to the Israelites that the condition of their heart would be directly related to their success or their failure, to their victories or defeat. He urged the people as they were entering a whole new era in their history, life in the Promised Land, to follow their God wholeheartedly. What do you think that he really meant by that statement?
As you explore this counsel written by Moses, I pray that you will learn what it means to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart”. He has offered to give us a “new heart” through faith in His Son, Jesus, and to satisfy the longings of our heart as we continue to respond to His love for us through trust and obedience. Doesn’t that sound good to you?
