The seat of who you are: Navigating the Complexities
of the human heart
What a topic to write about especially in
our postmodern, fast paced, millennial 21st Century! The humankind has managed to
come up with most sophisticated innovations in history. It’s amazing how many
inventions we have had in history which has changed the course of million and
Billion of lives. Its however worth taking note that of these inventions , none
has been made to deal with the human heart and hence improving the quality of his life. We may have state of the art
equipments and infrastructure but no invention has been made to help man deal
with stress , solve issues of crime or decrease rate of divorce and suicide,etc.
We may enjoy all that technology has to
offer but not unless we deal with the issues that really matter, i.e Heart issues
then our lives have not necessarily improved.
Proverbs4:23
Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the sources of life. (NET)
Proverbs
4:23 And keep watch over your heart with all care so you will have life.(BBE)
Proverbs
4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.
(Kjv)
Proverbs
4:23 , Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it is the wellspring of
life. (WEB)
If the heart is the source of everything
that we experience in life and if the heart is the platform upon which human
experiences and behavior happens, we must pay a little more attention to it.
The bible implores us to guard our hearts with all diligence. If you have
something from which your survival springs from then you will surely guard that
resource with all your heart.You will probably employ all your energies towards
safeguarding that resource.
Think of this: Every life experience that
you have ever had has been processed through the heart.
Dr James B Richards says in his book
‘Moving your invisible Boundaries’ The heart is the inner path to the kingdom
of God.[1] He
reiterates that what we need today is more than information. We need to learn
to live from the heart. We will highlight the attributes of the heart in part
one of this series
·
The heart is the real you. You can’t
escape from who you really are. We live in the age of superficiality where
people make faces and really hide from who they really are. Its important to
always stay in touch with who you are because you cannot become anything else
than who you really are.
Proverbs
23: 7 for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.
“Eat
and drink!” he says to you,
but
his heart is not with you.
Have you ever come across people who will
say one thing but you can actually tell that they mean otherwise from the heart?
It can be frustrating right? What about someone who you approach for help and he
tells you that he cannot come to your aid but you know he or she has what it
takes to help you.
Even though you can manage to hide behind
nice, soothing words, what is hidden in your heart will eventually come out in
the open for the heart is the real you. It’s important to live from the reality
of who you are for there can never and will never be a better version of who
you are than who you really are. You are not who you are on the outside more
than who you are on the inside.
·
The heart is the seat of
your being.
The good person out of
his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil
treasure brings forth evil. (Mat
12: 35)
Good and bad are brought from the heart. Who you
are on the inside can never be in contrast with who you are on the outside. The
heart is the seat of your being. Your emotions that define you are processed in
your heart. You cannot be who you are without your heart.
Jesus taught that it’s what comes from within
that corrupts a man.( Mark 7:20-23) This he said.
The heart is the citadel of your being. If the
physical heart if the engine of the body, then the heart is the engine of life.
The heart is the real you.
The heart is the real you.
Someone said you are who you are when no one is watching.
Proverbs 23:7 Do not eat bread from a stingy person. For he is
like one inwardly calculating “eat and drink” he says to you but his heart is
not with you.
You
can cheat people for long. Eventually the real you will come out.
It’s amazing how some people may appear to
have nice words on the outside while utterly bitter ,
angry and wicked on the inside.One of the experiences which usually troubles me
is finding out how indifferent people may seem to be other than what they
portray.
-
The human heart is complex,
capable of loving and hating at the same time. Capable of rescuing and murder
at the same time.
-
The bible says the heart of man
is desperately wicked. Who can know it? Off course this is so when a human
heart has not been transformed by the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The
human heart is capable of literally anything when the light of the gospel
illimunes on it, it can love to the uttermost, anything apart from this means
the heart can plunge into the depths of darkness, become the craftiest thing
and literally an engine of evil.
The Lord relates with you according to your heart
The Lord relates with you according to your heart
1st Samuel 16:7
We
learn an important lesson through Prophet Samuel and the lesson God taught him
as he went to anoint David the next king of Israel.
Man
looks on the outside appearance while God looks at the heart
Romans 10:9 if we confess with our mouth that
Jesus is lord and believe with our hearts we are saved.
If
the heart is the center of everything, we must pay attention to the voice of
God calling us to have an intimate relationship with him
A
lot of people pay a lot of attention to the outside appearance while ignoring
the inside. The inside is where real life happens.
You
can change clothes, money, cars etc. but the transformation that happens in
your heart lasts forever.
Let
your heart be transformed by Gods love. Hear his voice calling you from the
deep, ease your heart and listen to his voice. He says come let us reason
together. Though your sins are as red as scarlet, I will make your heart as
white as snow.
Hope
you have been blessed , In our next sermon we will examine how to examine your
heart. How we write things and make them stick to our heart. We will examine on
how to train our heart rather how God trains our heart to follow after him.
[1] Dr James B Richards,Moving
your Invisible Boundaries: True Potential Publishing(ReachTheWorld),Travelers
Rest SC ,2013.
