Heart Condition

If you have kids in grades 1-6 then you are probably aware that they are raising funds through Jump Rope for Heart, which benefits The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada.  Heart conditions, strokes and heart attacks are just a few of the ways that we are affected by heart health, either personally or in someone we love or know. 

I’m in the process of switching to a new Dr.  It seems my previous Dr. trusted that what she could see from the outside was all she needed to give me a clean bill of health after each physical.  When I went to see my new Dr., she was completely surprised to find out that I had never had blood taken unless I was pregnant.  She immediately sent me off to get blood taken.  What we discovered is that I have high cholesterol!  What?!  High cholesterol can run the family, as it does in mine, and can lead to other more serious complications of the heart if it’s not monitored.  I was surprised!  I mean, I’m pretty healthy.  I try to eat well, and keep active.

But it’s on the inside, the parts we can’t see where there can be problems.

So it is in the same with our spiritual heart.

When the disciples asked Jesus to explain why He was so hard on the Pharisees, He pointed out that they were far more interested in their outward appearance – they were busy washing their hands before eating, tithing all that they owned, observing every feast day, fast day and Sabbath day.  However, they were oblivious to the corruption within their hearts.  It didn’t matter that they were considered devout believers – their outward actions did not dictate the true state of their heart health – and if their hearts weren’t right, they weren’t right.

Just like a medically unhealthy heart, we want to know about the problem so we can whatever is necessary to deal with it.  We know that we can’t neglect a physical heart condition, or it could be fatal.

The question is, should be any less concerned about the condition of our spiritual hearts?  We were all born into a family with a history of spiritual “heart disease”.  We need to look to God and ask Him to examine our hearts, and diagnose what we might not be able to see inside.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss wrote, “The Good New of the Gospel is that the Great Physician has made available a cure for our deceived, diseased hearts.  Jesus came to do radical heart surgery – to cleanse and transform us from the inside out, by the power of His death and resurrection”.

Psalm 51:10 says “Create in me a clean heart, O God.  Renew a loyal spirit within me”.

1 Samuel 16:7 says, “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him.  The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them.  People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’.”