In the fourth century B.C., Aristotle proclaimed his belief that the heart was the center of the soul and that it affected emotions and how you were feeling and reacting to things. People in the Middle Ages believed that goodness and holiness could be physically revealed in the heart. Those who were found to have an enlarged heart, for example, were thought to be extremely loving and virtuous.
We in our modern medical age know better, of course. We know that the heart is just a muscle that pumps blood, not an organ that is the source of our emotional state. Yet, our hearts can be affected by emotions that come from our brains. Our hearts beat faster when we are afraid or in love. Our hearts slow down when we are feeling relaxed and comfortable.
The Bible talks about the role of our hearts in the spiritual sense as well. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). The heart is symbolically seen as a place where love comes from and where spiritual wellness resides, even to this day. But John reminds us in his epistle, “God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (1 John 3:20).
God is of more importance than the beating of our hearts, the condition of our physical bodies and our reaction to things here on earth. No matter how we feel or what our hearts are doing, God is in control and in charge of our lives. He knows us through and through. Out of his own heart, he sent his Son in love to us that we might be free from all that makes our hearts ache or break because of sin. He warms our hearts and fills us with faith that courses through us that we may not be swayed by emotions, but remain grounded in his grace. The heart of the matter in all things is Jesus.
