DAY 2

"For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander." Matthew 15:19

How often do we hear the word "heart"? It's a word that we seem to use constantly. If we are sad, we say that we are heartbroken. If someone is insensitive, we say they are heartless. If someone is very emotional and quick to express the way they feel, we might say they wear their heart on their sleeve.

When we speak of the heart, we are often referring to our emotional center. And we usually frame it along the lines of, "Well, my mind is telling me one thing, but my heart is telling me another."

Princes Diana once said, "Only do what your heart tells you."

Let me just say that you should not let your heart tell you what to do, because your heart can mislead you. A lot of crazy things have been done in the name of doing them from the heart. The heart wants what it wants, and many times, the heart wants the wrong things.

Here is what the Bible says about the heart: "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" (Jeremiah 17:9). And Jesus said, "For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander" (Matthew 15:19).

So instead of talking about our heart being broken or doing what our heart is telling us to do or wearing it on our sleeves, Jesus tells us to use our heart—as well as our mind and our soul—for what they were created for: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind" (Matthew 22:37).

So, we should not focus on our hearts as much as we should focus our hearts on God.

Adapted From: https://www.harvest.org/devotions-and-blogs/daily-devotions/2011-09-29