The word 'heart' is used in Scripture to reveal the source of everything we would normally ascribe to the 'mind'. The following verses bring to light the wide-ranging applications ...
1. Anxiety and fear ... Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. John 14:1
2. Carnal desire ... But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:28
3. Joy and worship ... speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, Ephesians 5:19
4. Reasoning ... For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
5. Faith and belief ... For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Romans 10:10
6. Morality ... A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. Luke 6:45
Scripture also mentions 'hardening of the heart', which may be described as a calloused temperament toward the things of God. It dulls a man's ability to perceive spiritual truth and understand the Lord's purpose for his life.
Sin is the primary cause ... especially ongoing, unrepentant sin. We know that 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness'. (1 John 1:9) However, if we don’t confess our sins, they have a cumulative and desensitizing effect ... crippling our ability to distinguish right from wrong.
A hardened heart is tantamount to the 'seared conscience' spoken of in 1 Timothy 4:1-2. Scripture makes it clear that if we purposefully continue to engage in sin, there comes a time when God will give us over to our 'debased mind' and let us have it our way ...
For although they knew God, their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Therefore God gave them over to the sinful desires of their hearts. Romans 1:21,24
Pride can also cause hearts to harden ...
The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, Who can bring me down to the ground? 'From there I will bring you down', declares the Lord. Obadiah 1:3-4
So, how then do we avoid this spiritual infirmity? Earnestly pray as King David did ...
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23–24
Once disobedience is revealed ... and we repent of our sins, the heart becomes pliable and receptive to the love of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit.
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