The Heart of the Matter

If I were to ask you where your heart was...what would you say? Would you point to the location of your sternum or would you look at me funny and say "What do you mean?" Ok, now turn your head 90 decrees to the right.


I'm not kidding. Go ahead and try it. Then scroll down a little.
















<3


Is that what your heart looks like? (No? Yeah, I didn't think so.)
Ok, so that was just fun and I wanted you to do that (so if you didn't....party pooper), but the direction I want to take with this is NOT the symbol of a heart and what it represents. Instead, I'll return to the original question: Where is your heart? Then I'll tack on there: Why does it matter?


Let's see how well my attempt to explain it goes: 


I heard a quote by C. S. Lewis that cut me pretty deeply. It went like this, "You do not have a soul. You are a soul. What you have is a body." Please take a moment to absorb that. Your soul (and I think I'm going to use heart and soul kind of interchangeably.) will last for eternity, but your body won't. What you have is temporary and what you are is forever. And the thing is, that is what your Creator is after. God doesn't want your stuff, or your time, or anything else that is "yours". What He longs for is your heart.


There is competition though. God has placed such value on you, but Satan is after your heart, too. He wants your soul to be his, but for an entirely different purpose and end. Funny, though (or not funny, actually) but it's not an "end". Remember that. What it is is forever. There is no end. Your body will have its end, your soul will not. But as you live your life now in the body, you have this one opportunity (called your lifetime, however long or short) to choose where your heart will "end" up. 


Your heart is so valuable that there is a fierce and passionate battle going on daily for it. Passion so expressed to the extend of a gruesome death on a cross some 2,000 years ago. Your heart is precious. That is why you need to know where it is.


Lame example time: I have a cell phone, right? I use it pretty frequently, so it's part of my daily life and I almost always know where it is. It's important. (like I said, lame. haha.) But since it DOES happen to be important to my life I keep pretty close tabs on where it is. Because I store some important information on it I don't let just anybody play around on it or use it. I don't leave it on the sidewalk for a random person to pick up or leave it somewhere where someone would be tempted to steal it. I value it, so I take care of it. It costs me money, so I take good care of it (ya know, the whole screen protector thing.).
Well we should be treating our hearts similarly. They are not for just everyone to know intimately, but God does give us gifts of friendships that we can have deeply. Our hearts are not to be left unattended/unguarded because there is tremendous value in them that might get damaged or stolen away. Fortunately, my God is a restorer and healer and can fix any damaged heart, but we can take responsibility for what has been given to us by being responsible with it. It's valuable, so we ought to care for our hearts...as well as the hearts of others. 


SO. How do you know where your heart is?
Your actions are an excellent indicator. Ok ok, I know I just said that you are a soul and have a body, but they are connected, right now aren't they? That being said, the motivations you have, and what you do with those motivations (actions) spring from your heart.  
Grace from God is incredible. We don't deserve it, and if we have the right attitude in our hearts about what God has done for us, then we will want to please Him, and by giving Him the affections of our hearts (and our whole hearts) God is glorified.
What you do reflects your heart. What does your heart say about your actions? What do your actions say about you heart?  Do you do whatever it is you do from desire or obligation?


Chances are, as you're reading this you don't think your heart is is the right place. (Believe me, as I've been typing this out, I've had some thing run through my mind that I need to check my motivations on...) The good news is that God changes hearts! There is ALWAYS hope!! He changes and heals us from the inside out. He deals with heart issues and heals deep heart hurts. So if I may, I encourage you to examine your heart. Examine the state of your heart and where it is. Get to know your heart and give it to God for Him to hold and take care of how He knows is best. After all, He designed the most intricate details of it.