Biola University - Biolan Yearbook (La Mirada, CA)

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COMMANDMENT CONCEPTS The eart: The Nucleus of the Spirit By BOB WILLIAMS emember the Tin Woodsman in the Wizard of Oz? Think back to him clanking down the yellow brick road with the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy and Toto too. Like his companions, the Tin Man was trekking to the Emerald City hoping that the resident wizard there would grant him an important personal need. The Scarecrow wanted a brain. The Cowardly Lion longed for courage. Dorothy simply wanted a return trip to Kansas. Somewhere amidst fragment- ed strains of Follow the Yellow Brick Roadn and recollections of random munchkin melo- dies, I'll bet you can hear the Tin Man squea- kily singing, . . . If I only had a heart. If your memory continues to serve you well, perhaps you will also recall how proud the Tin Woodsman was of the heart-shaped watch the Wizard eventually hung around his neck - the symbol of the Tin IVIan's new- found heart. I dare say that most everyone could bene- fit from a quest similar to that of the Tin Woodsman - a sincere pursuit of the heart. It is essential for us to understand the charac- teristics and the implications of this particular aspect of our being so we know exactly what is expected of us when the Lord Jesus bids us love Him with our whole hearts. Of course, here we are referring to a manls heart as an immaterial, spiritual dimension of his being, not the literal cardiac organ. In our society, it's not especially easy to get a han- dle onthe spiritual essence of the term heart, because it has become such an emotional catch-all word. We hear much about the heart, but do we really grasp the depth of the concept? Modern popular music would tell us that our hearts may belong to daddy, that they can be left in San Francisco, and that they might even be found hot-rodding out on the boulevard, bound perhaps for i'Heart- break Hotel. Drama and literature also em- body similar confusing references. For many, an understanding of the heart does not ex- tend beyond a Valentine's Day card mental- ity. A careful study of Scripture can provide us with a larger frame of reference. Consider Psalm 139:23-24: Search me O God, and Jim Young lleftl and Susan Madden frightl demonstrat know my heart, try me and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. Or Proverbs 4:23: Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life. These verses and others like them use the term heart to describe the very core of one's being. Components of the Heart The Bible deliniates some specific func- tions of the heart. For instance, the heart is the seat of our motives and intentions, be they genuine or alterior. As Jeremiah 17:9- 1O reads, The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick, Who can un- derstand it? 'I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind, even to each man according to ed motivated hearts on the Day of Prayer Park Project, his ways.' 'f It's apparent that our rational, logical abili- ties are also affected by our hearts. Solomon prayed asking the Lord for an understand- ing heart to judge Thy people to discern be- tween good and evil' II Kings 3:9l. Perhaps the most dominant aspect of the heart is its emotional influence. As I men- tioned above, many have an isolated compre- hension of the heart, confined to this dimen- sion of emotions. I Chronicles 16:10 pro- claims, i'Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. In Jeremiah 11:20 the proph- et appeals to God as The Lord of hosts who judges righteously, who tries the feelings of the heart. Since the common denominators of the heart are motives - catalysts which trigger intellectual responses - which are in turn 6

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x I ' . Dm. lf, '!,. 1 J Q. Q, Y 'fb 9s . 3. 4 i REFACE And ou shall love the Lord .4 r, . Q for -f ' r G d with y ou o , Nfl, l ' A . . s C.. . ' ' u h i .e ., ... ,, , it ,Q Q a our ear . 57 at 'f if , L- in B uv P Pix.. rf -E5 4'- i Q -.- a .,v,..i,,. , '-- s as r 'f'r- gf , ' .Q , ' ' I ., 195,-' 0 ,I Q . A 5. Yi.. I 'Q ., ' I I ' l ' ' '3't 5 H . ' 4 S ' s 4 ' ? S5 lr2l3Q:9A7N' l if ' - s. A fi .tweaks -gi , s 4 - 2 if .xg giig xl- 'nz . gigs: 1- 3 . -F - Q is-gg ,ge-:-7 ll L ' I V X V ff A k ,. ,, gm' GN., Yrivr L A.. . z.. 'A-'-'74,-S',' ?s'- -1 Q-, i' 5 tal ty V .Q , ,, Lf' pf ji., i ,ann.inlqg..,, ' ' ' AbV 'i ' X Jaw-vs I U Y l A K ' Am y N u WM W WM, t earch me O God and know my heart: try me , .gd .- i ,ws H ti' l A - ' and know my anxious thoughtsg and see if fs i X y W M there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the ' t everlasting way. Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a ' an . i 9' steadfast spirit within me. 1' . -1 ,n Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of A 1 Q ' M ,. , 5 ,. fy ' 1 my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my k rock and my redeemer. For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Selected Psalms and Romans 10:10

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r in ., ... L 5 Through working together, hearts become united toward realizing a common goal. influenced by emotional heart also prompts volitional activity. Notice the choice made in Psalm 1411: The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' Consider as well the numerous times Pharoah's hardened heart influenced his choices during the time of the plagues and the Exodus. More Than Warm Fuzzies From these passages, it is more than ap- parant that the heart dictates far more than warm, fuzzy feelings. The heart really seems to qualify as the nucleus of one's spirit - comprised of motives, rationale, emotions and volition. The combined functions of the heart are essential to salvation as well. Romans 10:9- 10 states, lf you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be savedg for with the heart man believes result- ing in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation. It is completely valid that God should ask for the devotion of our whole hearts. Loving in this degree involves being certain that our motives, our thoughts, our emotions, and our choices conform to His standards. This is all part of presenting ourselves to Him as living sacrifices - our reasonable spiritual service fRomans 12:1l. Pure Hearts, Authentic Living If we are seriously committed to loving the Lord wholeheartedly, we should give special attention to what Jesus Himself emphasizes about the heart. For example, among the beatitudes, those promises which Jesus enu- merated in His Sermon on the Mount, we can find both direction and encouragement as we pursue loving the Lord with our whole hearts. In this passage Jesus commends eight par- ticular virtues, including the quality of a pure heart. By a pure heart, Jesus is referring to an uncontaminated, unviolated cleanness which pervades one's deepest motives and inten- tions. As Chuck Swindoll writes in his book Improving Your Serve iWord Books, 1981l, this measure of purity does not refer simply to doing the right things, but doing the right things for the right reason ip. 114l. The Lord desires that we be thoroughly sin- cere in all that we do and that our sincerity would issue from the genuine motivation of a 7 a-............ -,......,.........