Having the heart of Jesus – Part 2

In the first part of this series, we said, that God’s work of regeneration in man starts from the heart as a deliberate effort towards salvation. This is because the heart is the centre of human life; it determines who we are.

The Bible mentions the heart almost 1,000 times. The heart is the spiritual part of us where our emotions and desires dwell. The Bible describes the heart as the centre of human existence, where people think, feel emotions, and make choices. The heart is considered to be the generator of physical life and also the centre of intellectual and emotional life.

The Bible mentions different kinds of hearts. There is the Good Heart (Mt.13:23); the Hardened Heart (Mt. 19:8-9; the Deceitful Heart (Jeremiah 17:9-10); the Divided Heart (Hosea 10:2; Psalm 86:11); the Broken Heart (Psalm 51:17); the Proud Heart (Proverbs 16:18); the Uncircumcised Heart (Dt.10:16); the Fearful Heart (Isaiah 35:3-4); the Rebellious Heart (Jeremiah 5:24-25; 1 Samuel 15:23); the Wicked Heart Jeremiah 17:9; a Loyal Heart (2 Chronicles 16:9; and a Heart of Integrity (1 Kings 9:4).

God evaluates a man according to the disposition of his heart, while man looks at the outward man. One may look so handsome or pretty by human standards, but fail the test of God. God chose David above his brothers due to the state of his heart, other than his physical looks (1 Sam.16:6-7, 10).

2 Chronicles 16:9 reads: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him.” A perfect heart before God is loyal, gentle and humble.

Why is it necessary for us to have the heart of Jesus? The state of our heart enables us to respond to the felt needs of humanity the way Jesus did.
Unless we have the heart of Jesus, we cannot understand the urgency of the task of reaching humanity with the gospel.

Unless we have the heart of Jesus we cannot love the way Jesus loved.Unless we have the heart of Jesus, we cannot be sacrificial and empathic the way Jesus was.Unless we have the heart of Jesus, we cannot work like Jesus worked.

The heart of Jesus is not sectarian. In Matthew 9:40, Jesus said: “He that is not against us is for us.” The verse appears in the context of Jesus explaining to his disciples that they should not discourage people who do good work for the kingdom. In the story, the disciples tried to stop someone from performing miracles in Jesus’ name because they did not recognise him as a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus told them not to stop him, explaining that anyone who performs a miracle in Jesus’ name cannot later speak ill of him.

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