Day 7: What is The Heart and Mind?
Today, we look a little closer at the Heart and the Mind. Often, people are confused about the “psychology” – the teaching about our “inner selves” – of the Bible. We are going to try and clarify some of the key ideas that help us understand what is going on within ourselves – in our thoughts, desires and emotions. These things are important to understand because these are the places where Father God does His work within us.
Proverbs 4:23
Guard your heart above all else,
for it is the source of life.
WORDwork:
What does this Proverb tell you to guard more than anything else?
Do you think this is talking about a physical organ?
Why should you guard this more than anything else?
Your heart is the source of your life.
The heart we will be discussing is not the physical organ that pumps blood through your body. This heart is the “spiritual organ” that produces your life. In our times, we see red hearts on Valentine’s day cards and the concept of the heart has been overly romanticized. When most people speak about the “heart” they are referring to the place of their emotions. This is not the Biblical view of the Heart however.
In the wisdom of Proverbs, we are told to guard our hearts more than anything else. Why? Because our Heart is the place from which our lives flow—it is the source of life. Your Heart is the “deepest” part of your spiritual self and it produces your life. God designed your heart to be the “place” where He would have the closest, most intimate contact and fellowship with you. All your life flows from this deep relationship with the One who gives all life.
It is interesting to note that the first time the Bible mentions the heart is in reference to the Lord-God Himself:
Genesis 6:5–6
When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
We are designed in the “likeness” of the Lord-God Himself; He has a heart and so do we.
Your heart is also the deep place within you from which all the facets of your personality are produced and come together to form the deep reality of your true identity. Your consciousness, your conscience, your thoughts, your feelings, yours desires, your imagination are all produced by your heart. It is that place where the real and complete “you” exists. Take a look at what Jesus said about the heart:
Luke 6:45
The good person out of the good treasury of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury produces evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart. {NET}
Everything flows out of our hearts. If our hearts are alive and full of light the way God intended, then our thoughts and desires and feelings will also be good. But if our Hearts are dead and darkened then all that is within us will be dark and twisted.
Your mind is the “gateway” and “guardian” of your heart
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God–which is your reasonable service. 12:2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect. {NET}
WORDwork:
What are we told NOT to do in Romans 12:2?
What are we told to do in Romans 12:2?
Your Mind is that part of your spiritual self that allows you to “manage” and oversee what is being produced by your heart. Just like our Hearts, we have a mind because the Lord-God does:
Romans 11:34
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
Your heart and mind are completely intertwined and it is difficult to separate the two entirely. However, it is helpful if you can think about your Mind as the “gatekeeper” and “guardian” for your Heart. As we just said, your heart is the deepest part of your spiritual self, the place of the “real you.’ The Mind exists to protect this deepest part of your personality. The Mind exists to manage what comes out of the Heart and also what is allowed into the Heart.
To give you an illustration of this relationship, imagine that during our first meeting we had asked you to share your deepest, darkest, most embarrassing and humiliating secret. How do you think you would have responded? I bet your first thought would have been, “How do I get out of here as quickly as possible!?” That response is your mind in action. Your mind’s primary purpose is to protect your Heart, the reality of the real you.
The Mind is also the “key” to your spiritual growth and transformation. In the brief quote from Romans above we first hear that we are exhorted—strongly encouraged—to present our whole bodies, our whole selves to God to serve Him. Then he makes two crucial statements:
Do not be conformed to this world. As we will see, the World (all that is hostile to the Lord-God’s truth, goodness, and glory) is seeking to shape us according to its lies, evil, and shame. On the other hand, Father-God working in Christ through the Spirit is seeking to do something else.
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Although it is hard to see in the English translation, the process of transformation is something that is being done to us. This passage could be very literally translated, “Allow yourselves to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Here is the main point: Father-God desires for us to give ourselves over to His Truth that He has revealed in Christ, welcome His ideas and images into our thoughts so that we are transformed.
Understanding how your heart and mind work are central to all that we will teach you in this study. As a general statement, drawn from observations of many texts, it seems God desires to do His work in your heart, but He has given you responsibility for your Mind. This responsibility is vital to understanding Spiritual Formation and Transformation.
Based on what you have learned so far, how do you think the Heart, Mind, and Body are connected and interrelated?
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
