Put your heart into it!

I was flipping through radio channels the other day and stumbled upon a song that I had not heard in years. Some of you may hate it while others may love it, but I’m going to refresh your memory of it anyways. The song is “Thank You” by Dido. The basic premise of the song is the story of a woman who has a bad job, bad luck, and bad weather. Though everything seems to go wrong for her, whenever she remembers or sees her love, her reality alters and just the thought of him gives her “the best day of [her] life.” Her love for a person changed her life.

The heart is so powerful and Scripture supports this. In class, we discussed how the heart is at the center of intellectual, emotional, volitional, and spiritual life. The heart loves, desires, seeks, and chooses, among other things. Scriptures point out the heart numerous times as the key to the Christian life. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Deuteronomy 4:29), “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts" (Deut. 6:6). While a heart turned towards God produces life, a heart turned away from God produces sin and destruction: "You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God" (Acts 8:21).

The heart is far more important that I ever realized. Whenever I think about the most powerful times of my Christian walk, my heart was always fully engaged. It is when we disengage our hearts that we become stagnant and mediocre believers. God shows us time and time again how important it is to have our whole selves engaged in our relationship with Him: heart, mind, soul, strength. This is how we were designed to be in relationship: wholeheartedly. Like this song, when we love God with all of our hearts, our reality alters. We may have hardships and trials of all kinds, but somehow everything is going to be okay when God is a part of our lives. Not halfhearted Christianity, wholehearted Christianity, a relationship with God that consumes the whole heart.