THE HEART, THE TREASURE IN MAN

The heart is a symbol of life. It is much vital an organ that it pumps and supplies the body with blood which keeps it alive. A time without the supply of blood to a part of the body will lead to paralysis and eventual death. The heart therefore supplies life to the body. Some other parts of the body such as; the lungs, the brain, the liver, the kidneys are equally important. Yet the heart supplies them all with life in blood which it pumps and supplies all over the body. For with no supply of blood, there is simply no life in the flesh (Leviticus 17:11-14).

The heart of man

In a sense therefore, that the heart of a human is that vital, so it is deemed appropriate to refer to it, yet to imply but the spirit man/inner man. Just as it is that there is no life without the heart of a human, so it is that without the spirit, one is not.

Spiritual death is detachment from God. For God is the source of all life. In that therefore, all scripture about the heart is used in reference to the spirit of man and not the literal heart. It is to make it easily understandable. Rather just how the literal heart is indispensable if the body is to live, so it is that without the spirit, one doesn't simply exist. For  to use the heart in reference is to try to give a proper feel of the vitality of the spirit for one to be.

The treasure in man is the heart, and of man, God loves the heart, or the spirit man for that matter. Any human is in three forms; the body, the soul, and the spirit. But of the three, the spirit is indispensable. For whatever any human manifests is from the heart. That is to imply that; what one manifests is an overflow of what he is in the heart (Luke 6:45), (Matthew 12:34), (Proverbs 4:23).

Of the heart, Jesus said; "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Why did He say so? For the fruits of the spirit are born in the heart and are manifest in the flesh. To struggle to appear good will yield nothing but sheer pretense. For the heart is infested with sin.

Dirt Just cannot be used to clean up dirt you know. Jesus cleans the heart with His blood and He makes it pure and acceptable to God. People of Jesus' days asked what they had to do so they could work the works of God (John 6:28). Jesus answered to them and said; "This is the work of God; that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:29).

The heart is so deceitful and is only known to God (Jeremiah 17:9). Yet there is a seed of truth in the heart because it is of God, but it is infested with sin because by Adam, all human succumbed to the ways and patterns of the devil. With such a fact, only God knows how to handle a heart and cure it of disease. The disease, though, is spiritual not natural. Guard therefore your heart and not your actions.

For the literal body is simply the house of the spirit while on earth. The moment the spirit separates from the flesh, the flesh is returned to the sand, but the spirit will find its way to the spirit world (Ecclesiastes 12:7), (Genesis 3:19).

For whoever have given their lives to Jesus Christ, their spirit will find rest in paradise and eventually to heaven, just as was promised by Jesus Christ (John 11:25-26), (John 5:24), (Mark 16:16), (John 5:12), (John 3:36), (Luke 23:43). But for whoever has not embraced Jesus Christ and have not given Him their lives, their spirits will wonder everywhere looking for rest but to none. Such spirits keep on possessing humans who are spiritually defenseless (Luke 11:24), (Matthew 12:43-45).

That is; whoever is yet to give their lives to Christ are the targets of such spirits. Some cultures falsely believe that it is such spirits to lead them to God. Only Jesus is the way to God. There is no other way whatsoever.

Jesus makes such a heart

The battle between good and bad is in the heart (Luke 6:45). For Jesus said; "For where your treasure is, your heart will be" (Matthew 6:21). Meaning; how one's heart is, so it will be how he acts or talks, except for pretense or double standards (Matthew 12:34; 23:28).

It is for this reason that Jesus identified more with the tax collectors and the harlots because they pretended not (Matthew 9:11), (Mark 2:15-17), (Matthew 21:31), (Matthew 23:27). They would never struggle to appear better than they were unlike the Scribes and Pharisees.

The tax collectors and the harlots admitted their status quo and made it easier for Jesus to reach out to them. Take for example; if one steals money from another, but go on to use the same money for charity. Literally, he has done well, but his spirit is grieving because it gets no reward with such. For scripture says we should mind what God takes of us rather than what we take of each other (John 5:44). For the heart matters much more to God and not to man.

A heart under the control of the devil

 All evil is manufactured in the heart (Matthew 15:18), (Mark 7:14-15), (Mark 7:17-23). The devil wages war to win the heart to himself. For the devil is well aware that the treasure in man is the heart. So the devil on that note infests the heart with all the filth. But Jesus came to rejuvenate the Godly truth in the heart.

That is; to strengthen the god in the spirit man, or to bring the spirit back to the life of God. Once one gets to know the truth, it gets easier for such a person to do just that except for incapacity. For Jesus said you will know the truth and truth will set you free (John 8:31-32). This is what Jesus came for. He came to make a clean pure heart because God loves such a heart. He gave His Son for it.

A heart for Christ

When one appears not to covet, it may not mean he will not if a situation demanding so presents itself. And God's reward is not based on how we act per Se, but the source from which we act. Yet we ought to note that we can only pretend to be good. For no person pretends to be bad. That is; to be bad is to be so. For no one will pretend to kill, steal, fornicate etc. Even a killer is aware it is bad to be so. Many people may never love to be identified as so. Everybody loves to be called literally good. And in all this,what matters is the heart the source from which all is.

The products of the heart for Satan

 It is in the same spirit that Jesus said; what enters a man doesn't defile him, but what comes from within defiles a man (Mark 7:18). For no one will claim to have stolen or raped, or whatever, if they ate pork, or ate a snake. Such will never affect the state of one's heart.

It is therefore about submission to Jesus Christ and not our struggles. For to keep struggling  to appear literally good is the very reason one keeps  wondering and failing. No human can help to make themselves spiritually better because there is no such strength in a human. But Jesus has all what it takes to make you better than you can do by yourself. 

A heart of which Jesus is the King

Give Jesus your life and that is how one is made acceptable to God. Thus David yearns; create in me a clean heart oh Lord and renew a right spirit within me (Psalms 51:10). Those who are intent on eternal damnation will glory in the flesh, but those who look to the hope of the promise of eternal life will glory in the heart (the treasure in man) (1Corinthians 1:29).