Life #32 - The Heart's Emotions, Reason, and Will

004/2011-05-21

Mature Christians, who follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, have early learned the importance of the human heart in the affairs of God and in his contact with humanity.

According to W. E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary (“Heart, Heartily”), he said that the heart eventually came to stand for humanity’s “entire mental and moral activity”.  In its moral significance in the Hebrew Bible, Vine writes that the heart “includes the emotions, the reason and the will”.

·       The heart’s emotions: “Then Hannah prayed and said: My heart rejoices in the Lord…” (1 Samuel 2:1 NIV).

·       The heart’s reason: “…consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:39).

·       The heart’s will: “Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze;” (Exodus 35:5).

Through our heart’s emotions (feelings), reason (working out dissimilar thoughts), and will (a deliberate resolve through strong desire), we understand ourselves as expressive, rational, and determined human beings.

However, the early prophets and apostles did not trust the actions of the heart in its raw state; so they urged us to clean the heart. The cleansed heart then becomes the most versatile and powerful instrument of God’s creations.

Who knew that out of the heart zōē-life would flow and influence our total salvation of spirit, soul, and body? Jesus.

Scripture quotations from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted; Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testatment Words (1981); excerpts taken from our book to be released next year.