Literally speaking, the heart is the central organ of the human body, which pumps the blood around. In Jewish thought (and later in Greek thought), the term ‘heart’ was used to mean the centre of the inward life of a person, the place of deep desires. It is the place where emotions are formed and the will is held. The Lord searches the heart to see the motivations for our actions. The Scriptures tell us that our hearts are naturally hardened towards God (Ezekiel 36:26), but that they are so corrupted by sin that they deceive us into thinking everything is fine (Jeremiah 17:9-10). The Lord Jesus says that whatever we do, whether for evil or good, is first conceived in the heart (Luke 6:43-45). And it is God’s desire that our cold, hard hearts should be replaced by new soft hearts full of love for Him and for others, that we might obey Him in all that we do (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
