What is the heart, according to the Bible?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Physically, the heart is an organ that pumps blood. But Scripture shows that, figuratively, the heart is part of humankind’s spiritual makeup; it is our inner being that drives us towards action. The Bible teaches that since the Fall (Genesis 3), human beings are subject to a sin nature. That is, our hearts are bent toward evil (Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:21-22; John 3:19). By contrast, the Bible also indicates that God’s heart is all good, and that He desires to save us (Ezekiel 33:11; 1 Timothy 2:40). God sent His Son to die for our sins so that all who place their faith in Him will have eternal life (John 1:12, 3:16). Scripture teaches that we’re to love God with all our heart, mind and soul (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37). God enables us to do that when we receive the Holy Spirit; then we can walk in the Spirit not the flesh (Galatians 5:24).

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• Since the Fall (Genesis 3), humankind’s natural inclination is to sin. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
• In Psalms 51 King David knew he needed a new heart attitude and sought the Lord verse 10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
• God has promised that He will "remove the heart of stone . . . and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). In other words, the Lord God will change our stubborn, hard hearts into hearts that are sensitive to His leading. After this heart transplant, the prophecy is that God’s people will look back on the evil they did and be ashamed and sickened (Ezekiel 36:31).

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• We want to believe that people, in their hearts, are essentially good and that they must be coerced, victimized, or provoked into bad behavior. However, Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness” (Mark 7:21-22). Humanity has a heart problem and needs a heart transplant that only God can provide.
• God also has a heart (Acts 13:22), emotions, and desires. But His heart, unlike ours, is perfect and holy, and He wants the best for His creation. For example, God "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4).
• When our hearts are afraid of condemnation, we can be comforted that "God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything" (1 John 3:20).
• Here are just a few of the dozens of verses Jesus spoke about the heart:
• Matthew 5:8 reads, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
• Speaking to the religious leaders, Matthew 12:34 says, “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
• Matthew 13:15 reads, “For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.”
• Matthew 22:37 reads, “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

1967, Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH), Cape Town, South Africa: Twenty-five year old Denise Darvall had just been pronounced brain dead by neurosurgeons. Immediately, her heart was removed from her body. It was transplanted into the body of a man more than twice her age: Louis Washansky. This was the first heart transplant surgery attempted on human beings. Washansky lived with Darvall’s heart for just eighteen days.

Later, such procedures would be more successful, with heart recipients living decades after the transplant. Yet all these surgeries and other life-saving techniques have something in common: they can only temporarily delay death. Only the spiritual heart transplant we get when we become new creations in Christ leads to eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and should be treated that way (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). But believers should always live with eternity in mind. We need to be sensitive to the leading of His Spirit and be ready to submit to His will. We need to recognize when we are rebelling against the Lord, confessing our stubbornness and sin and seeking His guidance and restoration. As long as we want things to go our way and not God’s way, our hearts will remain hard.

UNDERSTAND

• The heart drives our spiritual life and is naturally bent toward sin.
• God transforms hearts through faith in Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
• Only a renewed heart in Christ leads to eternal life.

REFLECT

• How do you see your heart influencing your thoughts, desires, and actions each day?
• Where do you need God to transform your heart so it aligns more with His will?
• How does understanding that only a renewed heart in Christ leads to eternal life affect the way you live now?

ENGAGE

• How can we recognize when our hearts are acting out of our sinful nature rather than God’s Spirit?
• What practical steps can we take to nurture hearts focused on God and His purposes?
• How does the promise of a “spiritual heart transplant” in Christ change our perspective on challenges and temptations in life?