That’s the theme of a song by a popular contemporary Christian band that shall remain nameless. It’s a nice thought that permeates most of today’s evangelicalism, but is it true? Does Jesus want us to just give him our hearts? Ask 10 Christians on the street and 9 of them would probably give you a resounding YES, as if ‘everybody knows that’!
I ask again, is it true? Is such a thought in the Bible? What does the Bible say about our hearts, every single human heart, after Adam’s Fall?
One of the earliest glimpses of the human heart after the fall can be found in the book of Genesis, just before we are told that ‘Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord’:
”The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Gen 6:5
The writer of Ecclesiastes reiterates that thought with a keen observation concerning all men:
“. . ., the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.” – Ecc 9:3
One of the strongest descriptions of the human heart was given to us by the prophet Jeremiah:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” – Jer 17:9
In case you are thinking that those are just Old Testament passages, and not Jesus’ opinion of the human heart, consider this:
“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Jesus – Matt 15:18-19
Do you think that Jesus wants any of the above ‘hearts’? If he doesn’t, what sort of human heart does Jesus really want?
We are given an answer in a ‘thus sayeth the Lord’ moment spoken through the prophet Ezekiel:
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh”. – Eze 36:26
I’ll ask it one last time. Does Jesus really just want us to give him our hearts?
Think about it. . .
The Battle Cry 
The sad tragedy is that most in the modern church don’t care whether it is in the Bible or not. Such trivial tripe has become the currency of modern evangelicalism through a theologically vacuous hymnology, and all the theological and biblical appeals one can muster will likely not dislodge it.
One of the words in your final appeal, “think about it,” points up the problem. People usually don’t!
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It’s not unscriptural that God wants us to give Him our hearts. Not with Bible verses as Leviticus.6:4, “Thou shalt love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might”, which is the greatest commandment. And doesn’t David say in Psalms.51,”a broken heart, a contrite spirit you do not despise”? Of course God wants our hearts circumcised to Him and they are detestable to Him uncircumcised, but we should all strive as much as possible to surrender our circumcised hearts to Him.
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Hi Ronald,
Thanks for stopping by!
Certainly God has given us a great command! And it is just that – a command. Is it really support for giving him our hearts? After all, the ‘natural’ heart of fallen men is pretty despicable, and how could a Holy God accept it? Does the natural heart have anything in it acceptable to God? And If God has to give me a new heart for me to have one he finds acceptable, isn’t the new one already his since he works in us to desire and do what pleases him?
And surely God loves a broken and contrite heart! However, is that the picture of the ‘heart of stone’ that God replaces?
The only thing ‘giving him my heart’ seems to do is prompt me to think that ‘I’ did something special.
Does that make sense to you?
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