The Purpose of the Heart

As I sat one day looking at the heart stickers my 3 year old daughter carefully placed on our windows for Valentine's Day, it occurred to me that hearts are so much more than a symbol of love. Our hearts are the part of us that God created with the purpose of connecting to Him.

When God created our hearts, as He was knitting us together in our mother’s womb, He was making our hearts with great purpose in mind. When I was pregnant with our second daughter, Sydnee, I went for an ultrasound midway through my pregnancy and was told that our daughter may have a heart defect. We were sent to a baby cardiologist two weeks later to take a closer look at exactly what the heart defect was. During the two weeks between appointments my family and I refused fear and clung to Psalm 139, knowing that God was making her beautifully and wonderfully. I hoped that the case was that God just wasn’t finished with her heart yet, but we knew, even if she was born with a heart defect, God doesn’t make mistakes. Everything he makes is made perfectly and with purpose. Even with a heart defect, God was making her a heart that would connect with His.

Here are five scriptures that reveal to us part of the purpose God had in mind when He created our hearts:

1. His Dwelling Place
“Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”
-Ephesians 3:17 NLT

Your heart was designed to be His dwelling place. I seriously can’t get over that. It blows my mind! My oldest daughter (3 years old) was sick with a stomach ache a few weeks back and as she clutched her tummy I asked her why her stomach was hurting. Her response was, “I don’t know. I think God’s trying to get out.” I questioned her further and soon realized that she had grasped the conversation we had with her about how God lives in her. She just had one slight misconception that God could make His way out of us once He had already made himself at home. Let me assure you, dear ones, He’s not going anywhere!

2. His Search Engine
“You will seek the Lord your God and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
- Deuteronomy 4:29 ESV

Our hearts were made to search for God, to literally thirst for Him. This explains the emptiness you feel in your heart until you meet Christ and begin to understand the unfathomable measure of His love. This is why people can search endlessly, trying to fill the hole in their heart until they come to the realization that God created our hearts with a God-shaped hole inside. Only he can fill that hole, and when we search for Him with all our heart, we will find Him. He will fill the empty space and make our hearts complete.

3. His Conference Room
“My heart has heard you say, ‘Come and talk with me.’ And my heart responds, ‘Lord I am coming.’”
-Psalm 27:8 NLT

Isn’t it amazing that the Lord created our hearts to be the place where we talk with Him? I have had a few conversations with fellow Christians where we question if we are hearing God correctly. Sometimes when God calls us to do something radical we may think, “Was that really you Lord, or a voice in my head?” I know I may have just given the impression to the non-believing world that Christians walk around with voices in their heads, but I know there is a brother or sister in Christ out there who is totally resonating with what I am saying right now. I find this verse interesting because it is so clear that our heads are not God’s meeting place of choice. He calls our hearts to come and talk with Him and our hearts respond. He created our hearts to be the very place He dwells and communes with us.

4. His Worship Center
“My heart rejoices in the Lord.”
-1 Samuel 2:1 NLT

Oh how the Lord must smile when our hearts sing praises to Him. Throughout scripture we see references to our hearts being filled with joy, thanksgiving, and song. God created our hearts, hoping that we would welcome Him in and serenade Him with songs of joy, gratitude, and praise. That is what is so beautiful about corporate worship. To gather around with fellow believers and hear the hearts of many lifting up their thanks and praise to God is amazing. And that is just a glimpse of what we have coming in the future. One day we shall all gather before the throne and on bended knee let our hearts cry out to the Holy One. It makes my heart smile just thinking about it; imagine what it does to His.

5. His Tablet
“The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.”
-Deuteronomy 30:14 NLT

We are commanded to lay up the words of God in our hearts; to write them on the tablets of our hearts. It is so easy in the media-centered day we are living to become saturated and distracted with outside influence. Having the Word stored up in our hearts enables us to continually obey it and helps us to stand guard against the enemy’s schemes. This is where scripture memorization really comes into play. Having a bundle of scripture memorized and readily available helps us to remain strong and diligent in any situation when fears, temptations, and trials come after us.

Now let us not forget the greatest purpose of all; so great that I felt the need to separate it from the above list.

“Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is this, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
-Matthew 22:37-39

God created our hearts for love: to love and to be loved. He loves each and every one of us with an unfathomable, unfailing love. He desires for us to love Him back, so much so that Jesus himself deemed this the greatest commandment of all. Even our most loving relationships on earth pale in comparison to the love that God has for us, and the Bible is full of examples and evidence of such love. In the previously mentioned scripture, Jesus goes on to say that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Isn’t it beautiful that God didn’t desire to keep all that love to Himself? He designed our hearts to love one another. Allow God to fill your heart with His love so that it spills over onto other people and above all back to Him. Hold fast to that love.

Check out this Casting Crowns song.  All He Ever Wanted (Was Our Hearts)