In the end the least misleading icon is to be found, not in the physical world outside of us, but in the human heart.  -Metropolitan Kallistos Ware

In a series on prophetic values from Micah 6:8 I highlighted each phrase and broke it down into the things that we value. From the opening phrase, “He has shown you O man what is good,” we built a value that states: We value the capacity to live from our hearts after the heart of God in pursuit of the good life.

In short, What is Good…to Live from the Heart.

Our heart has been the scene of the epic battle of good and evil since Eden (movies). We have been caught in the cross-hairs, shot, and cruelly wounded so as to have lost heart, or live faint-hearted or half-hearted. To lose heart is to be buried alive. Habitual half-heartedness is the death of love. Our condition is declared in the scriptures to be brokenhearted.

Our cure is Christ’s first words in Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;

Haven’t you noticed with what deadly accuracy the wound was given? Those blows you’ve taken— they were not random accidents. The wound is too well aimed and far too consistent to be accidental. It was an attempt to take you out; to cripple & destroy the image of God in you.

Do you know why there’s been such an assault? The enemy of our hearts fears the image of God in you. If you ever really got your heart back, lived from it with courage, you would do a lot of damage…on the side of good.

The subject of the heart is addressed in the Bible more than any other topic—our deepest thoughts are held in our hearts. Scripture itself claims to judge the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7)

The truth of the Old Covenant that religion loves to hold on to in order to show you how bad you and your heart are is found in:

• Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; Who can know it?
• Romans 3:10-12 There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who does good, no, not one.

Yes according to the scriptures, the heart can melt like wax, be foolish, stubborn, rebellious, wayward, vile, jealous, angry, bitter, wretched, fearful, cowardly…but the question is; Do we have a new and better covenant with God. We had to have a new covenant because the old one didn’t work, we couldn’t obey it. The new covenant (Ezekiel 36:26) says I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

If a new and better covenant was to be made then a provision for securing obedience had to be made. The unfading glory of the new covenant provides a GUARANTEE for our faithfulness and obedience. Jesus gives us a new heart, a heart that the Law could be written upon. I know the covenant is better not because I am perfect, but because I’m troubled when I am not.

The initial obedience that God requires is faith in the Son. This fulfills the condition of the unconditional covenant and provides for our only means of being accepted and received into the kingdom. Then we simply continue on in our obedience in the Son by faith in love because faith only works by love. Love then is the perfect obedience of the sons and daughters because if you love you will obey. Love then is seen as having substance.

In Christ I call you to proceed by believing that your heart is good. Remember Paul in Romans 7? If you think it’s you, a reflection of what’s really going on in your heart, it will immobilize you. The fact that you do not see your good heart and your glory is only proof of how effective the assault has been. We must fight to get our hearts back.

“So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about—He is looking for us.” – Simon Tugwell

Chronicles 16:9a For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is faithful to Him.