Issues Of The Heart

If you haven't guessed by now I love the heart. I think it is a fascinating organ and if I could do life over again I would become a cardiothoracic surgeon. Of course when talking about issues of the heart and faith, which always seem to go hand in hand, one would find 569 verses in the bible if you were to just look up "heart" in a concordance. You will get subjects like "the depths of the heart" or the "overflow of the heart" and other such topics in the scriptures. There is also the mystery of the heart, philosophically and anatomically. What exactly is the heart? Is it just an organ or a "place" of decision making, of love? Or try this one...did you know the heart will start beating for the first time around week 4 in the womb without the brain controlling it. Each myocardial cell is connected with gap junctions that send electrical impulses to adjacent cells which in turn tell the other heart cells to beat. Now they can beat to their own drum (Atrial Fibrillation) or they can beat together in one accord...WITHOUT the brain...AT 4 WEEKS!!!
Even more interesting; did you know the heart can compensate in many different ways according to many different situations? It is if the heart has a mind of its own. The most interesting thing I have found about the heart is that it can grow without you wanting it to.
When you are fully grown your heart is fully grown. The right side of your heart is smaller than the left side so blood can get pumped to the rest of your body. The pump will nourish your organs with oxygen that each cell of your body needs. Now if you are an active person and take care of yourself and if you eat healthy, your heart will beat stronger, beat slower, and become more efficient and healthier. This is heart that is compatible with life. But let's not forget that your heart needs its own supply of blood and that job belongs to the great arteries and veins that surround your heart. Here is where the compensation starts. If the veins and arteries that surround your heart get blocked, the heart cells could die off, new arteries could grow around your heart, or my favorite...your heart will grow bigger, to be filled with more blood, to pump more oxygenated blood to the body (are you still with me...stay with me just a little while longer). The problem with this is that the actual pumping action of the heart does not get stronger. Eventually if the heart gets bigger, to be filled with more blood, the pumping action to get the oxygenated blood to the body eventually does not match what the heart is doing. This heart becomes incompatible with life. The oversized heart, that was compensating for the fact that the owner of the heart was not taking care of everything else in their life such as good nutrition and exercise, will fail and die.
So what...well think about it. The essentials of the church are to disciple and love. To be totally devoted to the kingdom of God. To be used to provide life giving Shalom to the nations. God breathing into the souls of those that are broken. We need our heart to be strong and be careful of growing too big or else we become ineffective; incompatible with life. What am I talking about? I am talking about focusing on what matters to the very heart beat of God. What matters to God?
It is amazing how in my feeble American mind bigger is better...