The Psychological Heart
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bible Verses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 Thes 5:23 And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete...
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and operative...and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Prov 4:23 Keep [guard] your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the issues of life.
Deut 6:5 And you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart...
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is incurable; who can know it?
Eze 36:26 says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.“
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words of Ministry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Bible tells us that, as human beings, we have inward parts in addition to the outward members of our physical body. The inward parts are the parts of our inner being. According to the Bible, man is composed of spirit, soul, and body. The body, our physical being, is visible. This is our outer being. But the spirit and the soul, our inner being, are invisible. The soul includes the mind, the emotion, and the will. Along with all these inward parts of our being, the Bible also speaks of the heart and the conscience. We may say that the Bible is a book that deals with the genuine psychology, for it treats in a full way man's seven inward parts: the spirit, the soul, the heart, the mind, the will, the emotion, and the conscience.
These inward parts are the components of our inward being.
We have pointed out a number of times in the past that our heart is a composition of all the parts of our soul—the mind, the emotion, and the will—plus one part of our spirit, the conscience. Our soul is our personality, our person, our self.
The English word psychology is derived from psuche, the Greek word for soul. The soul is the base of all psychological matters. The psuche, the soul, is the “I“; it denotes our being as humans, that is, our personality. As human beings, we have an outward organ, the body, to contact the physical, visible world. We also have an inward organ, the spirit, to contact God and the spiritual realm. The soul, located between these two organs, is our person, our self.
The soul is the person himself, but the heart is the person in action. This means that whenever you act, you act by your heart. Therefore, we may say that our heart is our representative in action. When a brother says to his wife, “Dear, I love you,” this means that his heart loves her.
Whenever we enjoy something or dislike something, it is our heart that enjoys or dislikes. Thus, our heart is our representative, the acting commissioner or ambassador, of our inner being.
Because the heart is our representative, Solomon says in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” The Hebrew word rendered “keep” means guard. We should guard our heart above all because out of it are the issues of life. Out of the heart come all the issues of our daily life. As human beings, we have life, and this life acts through our heart. The word “life” in Proverbs 4:23 implies an organic element, the element of life; it also implies our daily living and activities, in fact, our entire human life. As human beings, we have a human life, and this human life has an organic element and also a daily living.
The activities and movements of our physical body depend on our physical heart. In like manner, our daily living depends on our psychological heart. The way we act and behave depends on the kind of heart we have.
Because we are fallen and sinful, our psychological heart is corrupt and deceitful. Our heart is corrupt, rotten, to such an extent that it is incurable. This is the condition of the psychological heart of all descendants of Adam.
But God in His salvation promises to give us a new heart. The new heart in this verse does not refer to another heart; it refers to a renewed heart. The first characteristic of this renewed heart is that it turns to God. The turning of our heart to God is a very healthy sign that He has renewed it. A corrupt heart is always away from God. If our heart is away from Him, that is an indication that our heart is still corrupt. Therefore, we can know if our heart has been renewed by whether it is turned to God or away from Him.
In God's salvation the renewing of the heart is once for all. However, in our experience our heart is renewed continually because it is changeable. Perhaps when you were saved, your heart turned to God in a very strong way. But after a period of time, your heart may turn away from Him somewhat. Through fellowship with a saint, through coming to the meetings, or by some other gracious means, your heart may turn to the Lord once again. When your heart was turned away from Him, it became somewhat corrupt. But when your heart came back to the Lord, it was renewed. We need to say, “Lord, I thank You that in Your mercy You have visited my heart and turned it back to You.” This turning to the Lord is the first characteristic of a renewed heart.
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