Proverbs 4:23: "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."
"Follow your heart." - Every Disney movie and romantic comedy ever.
I am a heart guy. That can mean a lot of things to different people, but for me it means I can be a sentimental sap. I would often keep trinkets that had dreamy nostalgic value way longer than I probably should have. Like the folded up note I found in my desk in third grade, torn from a spiral notebook and full of writing in different colored pens. (Yep, I can still picture it well.) On the page was the handwriting of a cute re-headed girl named Rebecca St. Germain who I would often think about when I should have been paying attention to my multiplication flashcards. I kept that note for at least a couple of years, even after she moved to Minnesota. I continued to dream about what could have been, though I never really made any effort to talk to her.
I think I liked the feeling of puppy love over actually caring about a person. That's what I mean by "heart guy."
But is that what God means by the heart? Maybe in part, but that sentimentality is definitely not all "heart" means. It has to mean more than that, right?!
Though there is no dictionary definition of "heart" in the bible, there are many descriptions. Proverbs 4:23 comes close to a definition though: the heart is where everything we say, think, and do comes from. If you will forgive me for saying it this way, the "heart" is the heart of our lives...the core of who we are...the source of our identity.
It is also where we meet with God...or rebel against him.
So we will begin this Sunday evening a series of messages on "The Heart of Our Lives" to understand our hearts, God's heart, and the mission that God has given us as the overflow of our hearts.