You Got Heart? ❤️ Serve Jehovah ? With Your Whole Heart!

[Bible Speaks]

You Got Heart? ?? Serve Jehovah ? With Your Whole Heart! 

Jeremiah 17:1010 I, Jehovah, am searching the heart, Examining the innermost thoughts,
To give to each one according to his ways,
According to the fruitage of his works."

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Not mere outward appearances but what a person really is inside is what counts with God, who is an examiner of hearts. (Pr 17:3; 24:12; Ps 17:3; 1Sa 16:7) So the Scriptures counsel: “More than all else that is to be guarded, safeguard your heart [the whole inner man], for out of it are the sources of life.” (Pr 4:23) And Christian wives are urged to give primary attention, not to external adornment, but to “the secret person of the heart in the incorruptible apparel of the quiet and mild spirit, which is of great value in the eyes of God.”—1Pe 3:3, 4.

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In a number of cases in the Bible where the term “heart” occurs, it evidently focuses attention on the thinking faculties, but not in a sense that would isolate such faculties from the rest of what makes up the inner person. Moses urged the Israelites, “You must call back to your heart [“must recall to your mind,” ftn] that Jehovah is the true God.” And later he told them, “Jehovah has not given you a heart [“mind,” ftn] to know.” (De 4:39; 29:4) Showing that at times the heart, as referred to in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Greek Scriptures, includes the intellect are instances where it is associated with “thinking” (Mt 9:4), “reasoning” (Mr 2:6), “understanding” (1Ki 3:12; Mr 6:52), and “knowledge” (Pr 15:14).

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Motivation, the impelling force behind our conduct, is a further vital aspect of the inner person, as represented by the “heart.” Thus, those making contributions for the construction of the tabernacle “came, everyone whose heart impelled him.” (Ex 35:21, 26, 29; 36:2) Wicked Haman “emboldened himself” (literally, filled him as to his heart) to scheme against the Jews. (Es 7:5, ftn; Ac 5:3) Hebrews 4:12 explains that God’s word of promise, like a sharp sword, is able to “discern thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Jesus, too, indicated that from the heart springs the motivating force behind our conduct, whether it is good or bad. (Mt 15:19; Lu 6:45) 

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With a view to our cultivating right motivations, the Bible warns us against allowing our dealings with others to be tainted by a desire for selfish gain (Jude 16) or permitting love of money, a craving for riches, to determine our course of life. (1Ti 6:9, 10; Pr 23:4, 5) 

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Rather, it encourages us to cultivate genuine love for God as a basis for our service to him (1Jo 5:3; De 11:13) and self-sacrificing love as a guide in dealing with fellow believers (Joh 15:12, 13); it also encourages us to make a practice of loving others of our fellowmen as we do ourselves (Lu 10:27-37; Ga 6:10). Obviously, the cultivating of such motivations involves use of the thinking faculties.—Ps 119:2, 24, 111.

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The condition of our figurative heart is reflected in our disposition, our attitude, whether proud or humble. (Pr 16:5; Mt 11:29) Our feelings and emotions are also part of that inner man. These include love (De 6:5; 1Pe 1:22), joy (De 28:47; Joh 16:22), pain and sorrow (Ne 2:2; Ro 9:2), hate (Le 19:17). Thus the heart can be “anxious” (Isa 35:4), “pierced” by affliction (Ps 109:22), ‘melted’ by fear of distresses (De 20:8). In the Christian Greek Scriptures, when the mind is mentioned along with the heart, “mind” refers to the intellect while “heart” refers to the emotions, desires, and feelings of the inner person. For example, Jesus said: “You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.” (Mt 22:37) He thus showed that a person’s desires, feelings, and emotions must express his love for God, but he must also express that love by the way he uses his mental faculties, as by taking in knowledge of God and Christ.—Joh 17:3.

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All such functions, capabilities, emotions, and qualities are ascribed, not to the literal heart organ, but to the figurative heart as representing the total inner personality.

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One seeking to please God must be neither halfhearted nor doublehearted but must serve him with a complete heart. (1Ch 28:9) This requires diligent effort in view of the heartÂ’s being desperate and inclined to badness. (Jer 17:9, 10

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https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200001948?q=jer+17%3A10&p=par#h=9