The notable American poet Emily Dickinson penned, “The heart wants what it wants- or else it does not care.” Wow, that is a serious statement and a cause for pause. We should know that Ms. Dickinson was not referring to the physical organ that is the source of the life blood within our human bodies. The heart referenced here is figurative language referring to “the inner person” where the feelings, emotions, and thinking occurs.  Tragically, in our fallen state, although it is a dangerously selfish mindset, it is where most settle in life. The heart wants what it wants!

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Thus, when Jeremiah penned these words many years ago, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” Jer. 17:9 (NKJV), he pointed to the driver of the true intentions of mankind, “the heart!”  Dickinson and Jeremiah pointed out that there is something menacing about the heart and we are not to trust it. 

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Our Lord Jesus said, “for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”(Mark 7:21,22 NKJV) These things have no place in the body of Christ nor the Kingdom of our God!

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What should we as believers do to avoid becoming overtaken by the evil or fleshly desires of the heart? The Psalmist David said it best, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4 ESV)  Jesus further confirmed this sure protection against the fleshly desires of the heart in the gospel of Matthew. When asked which was the greatest commandment of the law, his answer was this, And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment”( Matthew 22:37-38 ESV).

 

Thus, we see that it is “the heart,” the inner self, emotions, and thinking that is completely surrendered to God through Christ in the Holy Spirit that will remain steadfast and faithful to the Kingdom of God!