Head vs. Heart

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. Remember the Lord in everything you do, and he will show you the right way. Never let yourself think that you are wiser than you are; simply obey the Lord and refuse to do wrong. If you do, it will be like good medicine, healing your wounds and easing your pains.” (Proverbs 3:5-8 GNT)

Once we become Christians and learn more about God, it can be so easy for us to fall into the trap thinking that we are so very wise.  We can gain all kinds of knowledge, but if we only have it in our head where we just think about it, we’re not living the walk that we should.

Our minds and emotions (our soul) are a playground for Satan – the place where he tries to feed all kinds of temptation into our lives and whisper lies in our ears.  Especially as newer Christians, when we rely too much on just our head knowledge, it’s easier for Satan to confuse us with worldly ideas and temptations.  That’s why it is so imperative that we guard our minds.  But how do we do that?    

I believe moving our beliefs from our head to our heart is the key.  At that point our spirit will commune with the Spirit of God in such a way that we will grow in our faith and our joy.  Our salvation will have new meaning for us and it will be easier to recognize that we now are true members in the family of Christ – we are God’s friends.  

“And not only will we be saved, but we also rejoice right now in what God has done for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is because of Jesus that we are now God’s friends.”  (Romans 5:11 ERV)

The joy of being a Christian will happen when we allow all that knowledge in our head to move to our heart.  When that happens we will not only want to think about what we know, but we’ll want to act on it and reflect in our lives the positive qualities of being a Christian.  Our spirit will be activated and we will better connect with others.  

“So now we can obey God’s laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us.”  (Romans 8:4 TL B)  The Holy Spirit in our heart will help us to live a life that reflects the goodness of God so that we can resist the temptations of sin.  The end of those verses I quoted from Proverbs 3 at the beginning tell us that living a holier life, resisting sin, will “be like good medicine” for us.

We do not want to have just “a mind principle”  because that is “not a heart faith.”  “You may have noticed that academic understanding doesn’t bring us any sense of joy.  Only a deeply held belief in the heart can do that.”  “We never see people who just won a multimillion-dollar lottery sweating about their next credit card bill, and we should never see people who have been promised the Kingdom and glory of God sweating the day’s challenges.  When we realize what we have, joy abounds.”  “Not only does it abound, it overflows.” *

There is no doubt that knowing in our heads what Jesus has done for us is critical, but for it to become truly real, it will have to move to our hearts.  When that happens all the goodness that we desire to do will be done out of gratitude, not obligation. 

If you have concerns about whether you are only living your Christian walk in your head rather than your heart, then you just need to turn to God in prayer.  Pray this verse:  “Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart; Test me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”  (Psalms 139:23-34 AMP)

Written by Karran Martin – November 11, 2023

[All bold emphasis is mine]

*Quotes by Chris Tiegreen