The heart…….core of your being……

“Teach me, Lord, what you want me to do,
and I will obey you faithfully;
teach me to serve you with complete devotion”.    Ps 86:11  GNT

When we use the word "heart" we are usually referring to that very important organ in our chest cavity which pumps blood throughout our body.

The Bible uses the word "heart" many times but rarely uses it of the physical organ.

The term "HEART" in the Bible usually refers to the central core of a man, the inner person. The "heart" is the way to speak of the WHOLE person.  When the Bible speaks of someone's heart, it is speaking of the inner person.  The heart refers to the whole person, including the person’s mind, will, emotions, etc.

The physical organ which we call the heart is vitally important. We cannot live without it, and if it stops beating we will die.  Heart disease is a serious killer of men and women.  So also the inner "heart" of man is of utmost importance.  All that we do and think and feel flows out of the heart.  It is the center of our inner being.

The heart is the center of man's thinking: "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7).  As I think, so I am.  The clothes we put on are not who we are.  What we do for a living does not make us who we are. We are who we are in our mind and in our heart. Our physical body is not who we are; it is just the house we live in.

“…….the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (I Sam. 16:7).

People look on the outside, but God looks on the heart, on the inside.  God is not looking at the physical organ, but at the inner person. God sees what the person is like on the inside.

“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23).

The heart is the core of your being.  The heart is the key to a person's life.  Keep your heart more than all the other things you keep.  Regard it as the very citadel (fortified place, stronghold) of your soul.  Out of the heart are the issues, the springs, the outgoings of life.  The heart is the source.  The heart is the substance.  The heart is where decisions are made.  Everything you express comes out of the heart.  All the affections and feelings, good or bad, are in the heart.

Man's sinfulness comes from the center of his being.  “For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.  All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you” (Mark 7:21-23 NLT).

The heart refers to the person inside and reveals how they speak and act.

"The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9).  

Only God has a cure for the sinful heart of man, and that cure was made possible by the blood of Jesus.