Ordering Our Hearts Well

The Bible has much to say about the heart. For example:

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Luke 6:45 says, “For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

Life flows from the heart. The things that dwell deep within the caverns of our hearts display themselves through our words and actions, and they have the power to heal or destroy. For followers of Jesus, the daily task of surrender can be boiled down to tiny moments of ordering our hearts well. What does it look like to order our hearts well?

In his book The Life You’ve Always Wanted, author John Ortberg describes this process by what he calls “Living in Jesus’ Name.” He explains:

“In the Bible, names often reflect a person’s character. So to do something in Jesus’ name means to do it in a way consistent with his character—to do it in the way Jesus himself would. Every moment is an opportunity to live in Jesus’ name. All the everyday stuff of life can be filled with his presence—if you are … Start by thinking about what it would mean to do each of these activities in Jesus’ name: Waking up, eating, driving, working outside the home or caring for children, etc. 

As Christ-followers, ordering our hearts well means that we must not view any moment of life as mundane. Instead, we see each moment of life, no matter how inconsequential it may feel, as a moment to direct our hearts back to the God who created them.

Photo by Cathal Mac an Bheatha on Unsplash