Thoughts on Worship (The Heart)

“Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who doesn’t
swear by what is false.” – Psalm 24:3-4

The Heart.  Obviously, I am not talking about the muscle in your chest that pumps blood to all the parts of your body. But the Biblical understanding of the heart, as defined by Vines Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words… “man’s entire mental and moral activity, both the rational and the emotional elements…the seat of physical life.”

Throughout scripture we see the heart is extremely important to God.  Jesse brought all his sons and lined them up in front of Samuel.  Samuel had come to anoint the new king of Israel.  Samuel saw the strong physic of the eldest son and thought for sure this was the one.  However God rebukes Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7…”Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”   When Jesus was questioned about the greatest commandment in Luke 10:27 He answered “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind…”

The heart is central to our worship of God.  In the book of Proverbs, the writer gives a strong exhortation to guard the heart. In chapter 4 verses 23-27 we see this challenge.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk from your lips.
Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.
Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.
Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”

The Bible tells us that our enemy, Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8).  As Christ followers and It is important for us to be on guard to not allow the enemy to have a foothold in our lives.  In this passage from Proverbs there are three keys that the writer gives for guarding the heart.

1.  Guard your mouth. The Bible is clear that what comes out of our mouths is evidence of what is in our heart (Matthew 12:34).  If you want to know the condition of your heart, pay attention to the way you talk.  Are the things that come from your lips consistent with things that are pleasing to God. In James 3:10-11 we read “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and saltwater flow from the same spring?  I know that I was convicted early on in my faith walk to be careful about the things that I even joke about.  Here is a good rule…If it is inappropriate to do, it is inappropriate to talk about.  I could go on here, but I hope you get the point.

2.  Guard your eyes. Matthew 6:22 says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.  The focus/desire of our eyes will determine the focus/desire of our heart.  In reality, issues of lust and greed start with what the eye sees.  Job declared in Chapter 31:1 “I made a covenant with my eye not to look lustfully on a girl.” Recently, my wife talked about this verse with my then 10 year old son.  When she asked about places that he has to hold to this covenant, he answered “the beach”.  My wife then asked what he did to keep the covenant.  He replied, “I just go and dig holes”.  In reality, all of us, like my son, need to have a plan to change the focus of our eyes.  Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8 to fix our thoughts on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise.  As the old saying goes, “Garbage in, Garbage out”.  Our hearts are like sponges, what we soak up will be squeezed out.  As Christ followers we need to be careful of the movies and TV shows that we watch, Internet sites that we visit, and the tabloids that we read.

3.  Guard your path. Where you go can influences what you do. So, flee from the places where your temptation dwells.  To many times people put themselves in compromising situations without any thought.  King David, the man after God’s own heart, put himself in a compromising place when he was up on the roof.  I would think that he probably didn’t have a clue that he might see Bathsheba, but then again, maybe he should have known that there could have been some women out bathing in the evening?  I have to believe that looking back on the circumstances, that David probably wished he had never been on the roof that night.  As believers we have a responsibility to be salt and light to a dark and bland world.  However,  we need to be wise about the places that we try to shine.  Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.

My desire is to remain teachable by the Holy Spirit.  I do not want sin issues of my heart to keep me from  experiencing the presence of God in my daily life of worship. I want to do all that I can to present my heart pure before God.