40: The Temptation of ChristSample

4. World

References to your heart are throughout the Bible. Proverbs exhorts you to guard your heart. The prophet Jeremiah tells us that the law is written on the hearts of believers while Ezekiel reveals that our hearts of stone have been replaced with hearts of flesh. Jesus quotes Isaiah when he says about a segment of the people, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." The term used in the New Testament for heart is "kardia." This term refers to the seat of your personality, that is who you really are. It's your inner self, the center of your thinking, feeling, and volition. You are commanded to love God with all your heart. This is the part of your composition that directs the course of your life and that is responsible for obeying God. Essentially, the heart is what we mean most of the time when we use the word "me." In addition to these things, the heart is the seat of sin. 

Jesus' heart is exactly what is being tempted when Satan shows him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and proclaims, "I will give you their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want." And what is it the devil asks for in return? Wealth? Magic? Power? "If you, then," he continues, "will worship me, all will be yours." What the devil is willing to exchange everything for is nothing less than Jesus' heart. 

Jesus reveals to us where the stakes lie. "It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only." The heart is sacred. It is crucial to our understanding of God and continued growth in the knowledge of who God is through our relationship with Jesus. The heart is where God communicates with us and, as Proverbs directs, should be protected as the wellspring of life. Our worship is the indicator of where our heart lies. One might think that a song or two, maybe a couple of hours a week, in exchange for the world isn't a bad trade. Jesus' response, however, is testimony not only that this isn't the case but also that worship is perhaps the deepest of human experiences. Because of this, your heart is worth more than all the kingdoms of the world.

Talk It Over:

1. What are some of the things that might step between you and authentic worship of Jesus?

2. What are the ways you guard your heart?

3. What are the indicators of true, God-exalting worship? How do we take measures to ensure our worship is alive and with depth?