Follow Your Heart?

I have always been one to say that I follow my heart. I guess what I was thinking is that my heart was really another word for my spirit. I have recently figured out that that isn't true. Jeremiah 17:9 NIV says that "the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure..." What!? That threw me for a loop. I don't know why I never thought of it before because don't we say "I love you with all my heart?" Also we tend to say things like "I feel like the Lord spoke to my heart about..." These are contradictory as the Lord speaks to our spirit and we love people with our emotions - we are clearly dealing with two different things here. So after further study I began to realize that our heart is another name for our soul (our mind, will and emotions). I don't want to exhaust you with scriptural references but I'll give you one example of each so you know how I came to this conclusion...

Mind: Luke 2:19.... people ponder in their heart (think or meditate)

Will: 2Ch 6:7.... the heart that decides

Emotions: Jos 5:1...the fearful heart and Dt 6:5...the loving heart

The study of the heart, what it is and how we renew it is way too vast to cover in this blog post but maybe this tiny nugget of truth about what our heart really is will whet your appetite for more... here are a few more scripture references to get you started...

Ps 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Prov 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Mark 7:21-22 (too long to type but it talks about the types of wickedness lodged in our hearts)

Ezekiel 11:19-20 ...I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

Pride Comes Before...

I was doing my bible study this morning (yep, you're gonna be hearing a lot about this bible study... it is so good) and the subject was agape love. Agape love is the kind of love God is composed of. Anyway, what struck me was concerning pride. We all deal with it and there always seems to be an over abundance of it for some reason. I learned something new about it today...

Psalm 10:4 NIV

In his pride the wicked does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

I never realized before that it is pride that keeps us from seeking Him. I thought about that for a while and realized that it's our arrogance thinking that we really don't NEED God. I mean we can handle this life, right? We can make good decisions on our own, after all, God gave us a good mind... We pray about the "important" things and we throw a prayer up for our food and for our kids at night (I am so guilty of this) but do we really spend time SEEKING Him? It takes time to get to know someone. It takes effort. It takes prioritizing what's really important to us and all too often God gets bumped for other seemingly more pressing issues.

Unfortunately, whether on purpose or by our failue to see what's really important, we let pride rule over us if we don't humbly seek God's presence on a regular basis. Pride brings with it a myriad of negative consequences. Here are a few:

...it can be our downfall and cause us to be unfaithful to the Lord (2 Chron. 26:16)

...it brings disgrace (Prov. 11:2)

...it can demote us and strip us of our glory (Daniel 5:20)

...it causes deception (Obadiah 3)

...it puts us in captivity (Jer. 13:17)

I want God to expose the pride that tries to hide itself within me. It may be a little painful to deal with (mostly it's just painful to see the negative in myself) but not as painful as letting it remain in my heart and facing the consequences it brings with it. I will purpose in my heart to make more time for the Lord and to bring EVERYTHING that's inside me and lay it before Him. Not that I will perfect this today or tomorrow or even next year, but I will press toward the mark of living a life free of pride...a life FULL of God. I know it will be worth the effort...