Heart Lessons

God looks at your heart.

You would have to live under a rock to not know that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I mean, everywhere I shop I am assaulted by red and pink hearts, hanging everywhere. The pizza places are even selling pizza in the shape of a heart as their Valentine’s Day specials. All of these hearts and heart-shaped memorabilia got me to thinking about what God says about our hearts. In honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought I would share a few Biblical truths about our hearts.

A quick internet search shows the word heart turns up in the Bible anywhere from 570-830 times, depending on the translation. That seems like a lot to me. Our hearts seem to be a big deal to God.

In 1 Samuel 7, when God sends Samuel to look for Israel’s new king, He warns him not to pick the new king because of how he looks. He tells him that, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Now, there’s some sacred wisdom that we probably should all strive to do better with; I know I should. It’s super easy to judge people by their outward appearance. The prophet Samuel was tempted to do the same, but God looks deeper. He looks within. It doesn’t matter how perfect or flawed the package appears on the surface; we are called to look deeper and to try to see a person’s heart.

This lesson can also serve as a reminder for ourselves as well. It doesn’t matter how we look on the outside either. It’s our heart that matters to God, no matter what other lies we may have been tempted to believe along the way.

Another heart verse that jumped out was, Proverbs 4:23; “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

Our hearts are the gateway to who or what we worship. What or who we allow ourselves to get focused on or to love, can determine our destiny. We have to be very careful that we don’t fall in love with worldly pleasures and things that can prove to be dangerous for our souls. We have to guard our hearts.

What did Jesus say about our hearts? Actually, He said a lot of things, but my favorite is from Matthew 5:8; “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.”

I once heard a pastor say that if we had pure hearts, we were always on the right track. How do we get a pure heart? I think we have to spend some serious time in prayer everyday asking God what His will for our lives is and asking Him how we can love others better. If we are putting His will in front of our own and loving others, I think we are truly seeking to have a pure heart. God will help us with the rest.

I hope you all have a fabulous Valentine’s Day!

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂