God’s purpose is to conform our hearts to that of His Son’s. It is a long and constant path, which must be walked, because there are still furrows and tracks that the dominion of the old heart left behind.

According to God’s heart

Roberto Saez F.

“I have found David... a man after my own heart” (Acts.13:22) “Take my yoke on you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt.11:29-30).

The Hebrew concept of the word “heart” defines it as the center that governs the whole being and, consequently, all its actions. The Bible uses the word heart, among other uses, to refer to emotional, intellectual and volitional aspects. We know that these three parts are in the soul, and therefore, it could well be said, according to the Scriptures, that the heart is also the soul. In the New Testament, the word ‘heart’ is synonymous to ‘person’.

From the Old Testament onward, God shows man the need for repentance and a change in heart, making him realize he needs a new heart: “Then I will give them a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within them and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh.” (Ezek.11: 19)

Man’s heart

We know that man’s heart is contrary to God’s. Man’s heart is arrogant, hard, rebellious, selfish and deceiving, among many other defects. God’s, on the other hand, is a meek and humble heart.
How many times do we find God reproaching the Israelites’ hearts! Through the prophets, God persuaded Israel time and again to turn from their evil ways and their evil heart; but they, paying little attention, went after their idols, committing all types of sins against God.

Israel’s heart is the prototype for all of mankind’s, except for that of the Lord Jesus Christ’s. Stephen reproached the Jews saying: “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!” (Acts 7:51) The uncircumcised heart is the non regenerated and unconverted heart. It is that which has not yet experienced new birth. God’s Holy Spirit is the one that regenerates the heart, filling it with Christ’s life. To be born of the Spirit is to be born again: God has poured out the Holy Spirit so that wherever the gospel is preached, souls are regenerated. The Holy Spirit reproaches sin, bringing conviction of sin to men who have lived far from God.

Once the person is regenerated, he must learn how to be gentle and humble of heart. It is a long and constant path, which must be walked, because although we have a new heart and a new spirit inside us, there are still furrows and tracks left behind by the dominion of the old heart. It is not that the old heart has disappeared, because we don’t believe in the annihilation of the soul, but rather it is the subjugation of the soul to the spirit. The new heart is Christ living in us.

Before conversion, our spirit was dead to God. Now, with the spirit being reborn, Christ dwells in us through our faith in Him. So, a change in heart consists of the fact that before we didn’t have eternal life because we had not received Christ; but now that we have received Him, He lives in our hearts and has become the Life of our life.

After walking in joyous times with the new heart, we soon begin to face the contradictions of the old and the new. We see that the natural life, which is in the soul, wants to act independently from God’s life, which lives in our spirit. It is the fight between the flesh and the Spirit. Old sins that were overcome return to attack. The inherited character of our parents shows itself again. Christ’s character is lost from view, and other people see us and not the Lord in us. Why does this happen? Jeremiah says: “The heart is deceiving above all things” (17:9) Solomon says to his son: “Keep your heart with all diligence.” (Prov.4: 23) The Lord Jesus Christ says to the churches: “I am He who examines the minds and hearts.” (Rev.2: 23)

“Know yourself”, the Greeks said. The truth is that nobody can know himself. Being introspective doesn’t serve as a spiritual exercise. If we look within ourselves we will only find darkness. There, in the labyrinths of the heart, there are no answers for the interrogation that man demands from himself. Faith tells us that only by looking to Christ can we see light.

Four types of hearts

In the parable of the sower (Matt.13) we find four types of lands that represent four types of hearts. The sower came out to sow the seed of the Kingdom. Part of the seed fell on the path; another part fell on rocky ground; another part fell among thorns and thistles; and finally, another part of the seed fell on the good land, which yielded fruit thirty, sixty and a hundred times over.

None of us were naturally a good land. The Lord has been doing an excellent work in our hearts, because he knows, like all farmers, that to scatter seed in a hardened land, a rocky land, or a land full of overgrowth, would be totally useless. He hopes the rain of His Word will soak and soften the hardened land which, due to all the people that had walked over it, had transformed into a hardened path.

How many hearts correspond to this type of land! How long it takes to heal those traumas of the heart: those abuses, those wounds that still hurt because of a lack of love; that unfavorable atmosphere of the home, that irresponsible father, that extreme poverty, those complexes! How the heart hardens! But the blessed word of God’s grace was softening it little by little. God put His sharp plow to work until that land was turned over. Then those came “discs” to cut across it, then came the “rake” of long and sharp irons, to undo the clods and to leave it receptive to be sowed with the seed of the Kingdom.

The same thing happened to the heart that had filled with the rocky ground of religion. This type of heart represents the superficial Christian. The word of the Kingdom cannot penetrate them, because the terrain of the land is not very deep, so the sun comes up and burns the roots. In this way, the sower becomes fruitless. The rocky ground represents the dead weight of religion, whatever its name be.

One can have the best religion, but this only maintains men in an appearance of godliness. Some put the emphasis on their clothing, others in foods, others in Bible study (studying the Bible is good except when it is just an end in itself: it should be a means to show us Christ; otherwise they are just words). Some copy a certain intonation; others pray with a solemn voice. However, the worst are those that have their own self-righteousness. To get rid of this religious dead weight is more difficult than healing the heart of those who are mistreated. But there is hope. Many come in these conditions, and the Lord has power to cleanse them, leaving them healed.

The land filled with overgrowth is a type of contaminated heart. This is the type of Christian who lives in the world and the church. They want the seed of the Kingdom but they also want the seed of other philosophies. They maintain commitments with political systems, feeding hopes of a better world through science, art and culture. They have likes refined by the beautiful things of this world and enjoy the hedonist pleasures that this world offers. They come to the meetings, but don’t commit themselves; they observe others and how they walk in the way of the Lord, but then judges them, emits their opinions, and are not in agreement. They are a spectator who watches the race from the stands. They believe they are right in everything. “Neither committed inside nor outside” is their way to behave.

That is, until the day that they are reached by the word of the Kingdom. This is of supreme importance to the ministry of the word in the churches. Pastors have to realize that they alone are not sufficient to edify the brothers and sisters. The pattern of Ephesians 4 is needed to carry out this sowing.

From what has been examined here, it is clear that there are no naturally good lands and that we all need the divine farmer’s work. We will tell him: “Lord, send the rain, soften our hearts with your word, put your plow to us, break our hearts!” Only then will the lands be able to receive the word of the Kingdom. Perhaps God will use the word of grace to soften hearts, to heal them and to cleanse them, before the word of the Kingdom can be sowed and received, and, in this way, give the desired fruit.

Jesus’ heart

Matthew’s Gospel introduces us to Jesus as King. He will tell us that this King’s characteristic is that His heart is gentle and humble. He is different to all other kings of the earth. They are arrogant, authoritarian, haughty, violent, dominant etc., but the Lord Jesus Christ is different. And it is because His Kingdom is not of this world. He comes to form a people that will share with him –for now– a kingdom over sin, the world, the flesh and Satan; and –in the near future– they will reign over the nations with Him in a kingdom of peace.

Matthew shows us that our king is born in a humble manger. Then he shows us the king’s teachings for the citizens of the Kingdom, because He is the King of kings–not of the kings of this world who do not appreciate or desire him, but rather a King over all of us who have become kings, and who choose to be conformed to our King’s character. His teachings are in Matthew 5 to 7, and begin with the famous Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth... Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see to God.”

“Poor in spirit” are those who recognize that there is no moral solvency in themselves to be adjusted to God’s requirements. They realize that for all the sincerity that they want to have toward God, they are not able to please Him obeying His demands. When they compare their character with the King’s character they judge themselves, admitting their weakness, saying: “Lord, I cannot be like you!” Then they cry over their sin and they regret not being able to be like their Lord. That is when they receive comfort. God has declared: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15)

That is how the King’s character is being formed in us and how the heart is being purified.
Matthew shows us our King’s heart: “... Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Mat.11: 29) The King invites us to learn from Him. We are being conformed into His image. Whoever wants to be above their brothers and sisters won’t be gentle or humble, and will carry the yoke of not being able to find rest. For that reason, Paul invites us to consider others as superior to ourselves.

David is said to have been a man according to God’s heart. He had the opportunity to kill Saul and only cut the tip of his mantel with his sword. He had the opportunity to allow Abishai son of Zeruiah to behead Shimei when he cursed him, but he didn’t do it, because he thought that it was God who spoke to him through that man. David didn’t look at the circumstances, but to God. When he danced among his brothers, he preferred to glorify God rather than pleasing his wife. There are many occasions in which David pleased God, even when he also had to humble himself and repent for his sins.

May God make us men conformed to His heart.

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