His Heart on The Line
How often do you think about the Heart of God?
Does God actually have a heart?
If He does, does it pump blood through His holy body?
Does God have blood?
Does God feel pain?
Emotional pain?
We tend to equate God to ourselves or ourselves to God when we think on His actual presence. It’s easier that way, isn’t it? I’ve often thought to myself, “Well, scripture says we are made in His image…so that must infer to us that He, God, has arms and legs, a head, feet, and most definitely, a heart”. Oh but, that’s faulty thinking my friend. See, I just confessed to you in writing how faulty my thinking can be. Care needs to be taken when we get down to nitty-gritty TRUTH.
How thankful we should be for the Word of God and for scholars who care deeply for understanding, knowing, and teaching correctly the truth revealed in the Holy Pages.
The truth of the matter is that GOD does not have a physical body. Period. And yet, He does long for us to know Him as our Savior, Friend, Shepherd, and Redeemer. (All of which are physical representations of who He is and how He wants us to know Him.) A quick ask to GotQuestions.org states it so well, “When Scripture describes God’s mighty arm we know that arms are by definition limited - but might is not. So God’s mighty arm is actually unlimited power to act (what we call omnipotence). When Scripture describes God’s mind, we know that minds are limited, but knowledge is not. God’s mind is actually His infinite knowledge (what we call omniscience).”
GOD is so eager in His great reach towards us that He, Himself, chooses to be a Triune God.
He knew we would need a physical example to come closer to Him. So the Son, Jesus, was born to us. He is the physical representation to us of what God would be IF the Father were human. Jesus is the Savior, Friend, Shepherd, Redeemer.
God also knew we would need a Holy Spirit Counselor, Guide, Helper, Corrector, Comforter, Healer, Protector in our daily lives. One who we can not see, but we can know He is with us personally. So God kindly, in His Triune self, meets us as the Holy Spirit.
And then God also knew we would need a Mighty, Holy, King, Creator, Father, All-Powerful Commander of Angel Armies who was, is, and always will be on the Throne and above all things. This is the God we can not look upon, who no one has seen, He is Spirit form but can become physical form if HE chooses. He is the One to be revered, stand in awe of, feared and respected — He holds the earth in place, the waterline on the shoreline, the stars in the night sky, the universe in order, every aspect of the natural world is from His hand and in His hands.
We should tremble at His power…we breathe only because He gives air. We people, we take too lightly the reverence due Him. The thunder we hear on a stormy night is less than the sound of the blink of His eye…(IF he had eyes to blink).
And yet we so carelessly think we are something more than we actually are. We think HE should explain Himself to us, we assess His workings, we determine if we want to worship Him, we question if we think He is worthy (often times based on what He has or has not done for us)…oh we are so little and small. It’s like the ant shirking his tiny shoulders at the lion.
We desperately lose sight of who HE is, even as we magnify who we think we are.
We are finite, created, fragile and unable. HE is infinite, eternally has been and will be, powerful and completely able.
How could we get it so wrong?
This writing is meant to focus on the Heart of God at the most important line of life, and yet I began the writing by sharing that God the Father, does not have a physical, beating heart. Jesus the Son had a physical, beating heart like yours and mine…but never forget that the blood pumped by that physical heart was spilled out, dripped down the cross, and now covers us, all who believe. Christ the son is ascended, with no physical heart. He went into the tomb with a heart no longer beating, He came out of the tomb in spirit form. And the Holy Spirit has no physical heart. So how can I write about God’s heart on the Line?
This “heart” refers to His emotion towards us. Does God have emotion? Absolutely.Another quick question to GotQuestions.org (a great resource for us lay-people-lovers of Scripture) answers so well —
“There are numerous passages of Scripture that speak of God’s emotions. For example, God demonstrates the following:
Anger–Psalm 7:11;Deuteronomy 9:22;Romans 1:18
Compassion–Psalm 135:14;Judges 2:18;Deuteronomy 32:36
Grief–Genesis 6:6;Psalm 78:40
Love–1 John 4:8;John 3:16;Jeremiah 31:3
Hate–Proverbs 6:16;Psalm 5:5;Psalm 11:5
Jealousy–Exodus 20:5;Exodus 34:14;Joshua 24:19
Joy–Zephaniah 3:17;Isaiah 62:5;Jeremiah 32:41
However, are God’s emotions the same kind of emotions we humans exhibit? Is it right to think of Him as “emotional” (does He have mood swings)? In theological circles, personhood is often defined as “the state of being an individual with intellect, emotion, and volition.” God, then, is a “person” in that He is a personal God with a mind, emotions, and a will of His own.”
“Humans respond to things in this world physically, of course, but we also respond spiritually — our souls react, and this is what we call “emotion.” The fact of human emotion is one proof that God has emotions, as well, for He created us in His image (Genesis 1:27). Another proof is theIncarnation. As the Son of God in this world, Jesus was not an emotionless automaton. He felt what we feel, weeping with those who wept (John 11:35), feeling compassion for the multitudes (Mark 6:34), and being overcome with sorrow (Matthew 26:38). Through it all, He revealed the Father to us (John 14:9).
Though God istranscendent, we’ve come to know Him as a personal, living God who engages intimately with His creation. He loves us in ways we cannot fathom (Jeremiah 31:3;Romans 5:8;8:35,38–39), and He is immeasurably pained by our sin and rebellion against Him (Psalm 1:5;5:4–5;Proverbs 6:16–19).”
“There are two wonderful things concerning God and emotions: first, He understands our emotions (since He created us with the capacity to feel them), and, second, His own emotions continually flow from His perfection. He will never change His feelings toward His redeemed.”
While God has great capacity for perfection in emotions, which we here refer to as His Heart, God is never “moody” as we people can be. God’s emotions are tender and true. His sovereignty guides Him, He is not swayed by the views of us or anything. He is God and He feels purely.
And so finally we come to the peak of the purpose for this sharing. God’s heartfelt emotions are ever and always focused on THE LINE between good and evil, salvation and destruction, holiness and depravity. It’s the very line He placed Christ upon. God longs for all who will surrender their lives into His holy hands to cross over THE LINE and enter into salvation. John 3:16 says it so beautifully, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever would believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (NIV) I love NAS translation’s way of saying it, “For God so love the world, that He gave His only son, so that everyone that believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.”
Oh but The Message translation hits a grand-slam with its wording…
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.” (Verses 16-18)
God’s heartfelt emotions are ever and always focused on the line between the Light and the darkness. Everything our God does is a symphony of reaching towards those wondering in the darkness.
The Message translation continues with these concluding words for this sharing: “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.” (V 19-21)
If you ever find yourself wondering — Where is GOD? Does God care? — realign your focus from yourself to The Line between heaven and hell, light and darkness, love and hate, goodness and evil — and you’ll find the very heart of God right there.
It’s the field He is at work in.
