![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/heart-jewlery-300x200.avif\")
In the Bible, “heart” almost always refers to the inner person where we make choices, good or bad (Matthew 15:15:19; I Peter 3:4). D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones defines the heart as “the centre of man’s being and personality; it is the fount out of what everything else comes” [Studies in the Sermon on the Mount<\/em>].<\/p>\nBible Examples<\/h2>\n\n- King Rehoboam “did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD<\/em>” (II Chronicles 12:14).<\/li>\n
- “‘<\/em>O Daniel, man greatly loved,’ the angel said, ‘. . . for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words’<\/em>” (Daniel 10:11-12).<\/li>\n
- “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel<\/em>” (Ezra 7:10).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart<\/h2>\n
A Christian teen once told me he was determined to keep himself pure for marriage. He and his wife have been married for 30 years, and their relationship is one of the best! He had set his heart!<\/p>\n
“As unadulterated water is said to be pure, and gold without alloy is pure gold, so the pure heart is the undivided heart where there is no conflict of loyalties, no cleavage of interests, no mixture of motives, no hypocrisy and no insecurity. It is wholeheartedness God-wards” [R. A. Finlayson in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1306-1307].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The condition of our heart is God’s first concern (I Samuel 16:7; I Chronicles 28:9; Jeremiah 17:9-10; Revelation 2:23).<\/p>\n
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer<\/em>” (Psalms 19:14).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by David Gibson In the Bible, “heart” almost always refers to the inner person where we make choices, good or bad (Matthew 15:15:19; I Peter 3:4). D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones defines the heart as “the centre of man’s being and personality; it is the fount out of what everything else comes” [Studies in the Sermon on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[495],"class_list":["post-84783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-heart"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28446,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/five-imperatives-in-evangelism\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":0},"title":"Five Imperatives in Evangelism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Royce Bell Trust God's Power Ever remember: For all we do, at whatever cost and in whatever numbers, the positive results of any effort are attributable to God and Him, Alone. For example, note the words of Paul, \"I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth\" (I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26891,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-deceitful-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":1},"title":"The Deceitful Heart","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Daniel H. King Sr. via\u00a0Guardian of Truth\u00a0XXXIX: 2 p. 22-23, January 19, 1995 The prophet Jeremiah's life and the unique experiences which he had with Israel, offered him a \"laboratory\" to study the workings of the human heart. God had entrusted him with a message of dismay, desolation, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57255,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-ideal-bible-teacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":2},"title":"The Ideal Bible Teacher","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Johnny Ramsey via\u00a0Gospel Minutes, Vol. 55, No. 39, Sept. 29, 2006 Jesus was born to die, but He lived to teach. I know that we have all heard that, but there are some statements that we hear over and over again that never get old. We have also heard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Bible-Reading-5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":93127,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/heart-set-on-pilgrimage\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":3},"title":"Heart Set on Pilgrimage","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage\" (Psalms 84:5 NKJV). Two things show us a truly \"blessed\" man. No! It is not his money, his political power, or his fame. A truly blessed man: Finds his strength to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19358,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-long-was-daniel-in-the-lions-den\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":4},"title":"How long was Daniel in the lions’ den?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How long was Daniel in the lions' den? Answer: Since the king was tricked into sentencing Daniel, he worked hard to find a way to avoid sending Daniel into the lions' den. \"And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29624,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/coffee-bean-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":5},"title":"Coffee Bean Religion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant My grandfather, J. D. Tant, liked strong coffee. In his time (1861-1941), many ground their own beans. One day while eating with a family, he asked the housewife \"Sister, do you have any coffee beans?\" \"Why, yes brother Tant.\" \"Well,\" he replied, \"If you'll bring me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/coffee-bean-on-white-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart<\/h2>\n
A Christian teen once told me he was determined to keep himself pure for marriage. He and his wife have been married for 30 years, and their relationship is one of the best! He had set his heart!<\/p>\n
“As unadulterated water is said to be pure, and gold without alloy is pure gold, so the pure heart is the undivided heart where there is no conflict of loyalties, no cleavage of interests, no mixture of motives, no hypocrisy and no insecurity. It is wholeheartedness God-wards” [R. A. Finlayson in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1306-1307].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The condition of our heart is God’s first concern (I Samuel 16:7; I Chronicles 28:9; Jeremiah 17:9-10; Revelation 2:23).<\/p>\n
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer<\/em>” (Psalms 19:14).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by David Gibson In the Bible, “heart” almost always refers to the inner person where we make choices, good or bad (Matthew 15:15:19; I Peter 3:4). D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones defines the heart as “the centre of man’s being and personality; it is the fount out of what everything else comes” [Studies in the Sermon on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[495],"class_list":["post-84783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-heart"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28446,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/five-imperatives-in-evangelism\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":0},"title":"Five Imperatives in Evangelism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Royce Bell Trust God's Power Ever remember: For all we do, at whatever cost and in whatever numbers, the positive results of any effort are attributable to God and Him, Alone. For example, note the words of Paul, \"I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth\" (I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26891,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-deceitful-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":1},"title":"The Deceitful Heart","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Daniel H. King Sr. via\u00a0Guardian of Truth\u00a0XXXIX: 2 p. 22-23, January 19, 1995 The prophet Jeremiah's life and the unique experiences which he had with Israel, offered him a \"laboratory\" to study the workings of the human heart. God had entrusted him with a message of dismay, desolation, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57255,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-ideal-bible-teacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":2},"title":"The Ideal Bible Teacher","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Johnny Ramsey via\u00a0Gospel Minutes, Vol. 55, No. 39, Sept. 29, 2006 Jesus was born to die, but He lived to teach. I know that we have all heard that, but there are some statements that we hear over and over again that never get old. We have also heard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Bible-Reading-5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":93127,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/heart-set-on-pilgrimage\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":3},"title":"Heart Set on Pilgrimage","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage\" (Psalms 84:5 NKJV). Two things show us a truly \"blessed\" man. No! It is not his money, his political power, or his fame. A truly blessed man: Finds his strength to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19358,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-long-was-daniel-in-the-lions-den\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":4},"title":"How long was Daniel in the lions’ den?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How long was Daniel in the lions' den? Answer: Since the king was tricked into sentencing Daniel, he worked hard to find a way to avoid sending Daniel into the lions' den. \"And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29624,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/coffee-bean-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":84783,"position":5},"title":"Coffee Bean Religion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant My grandfather, J. D. Tant, liked strong coffee. In his time (1861-1941), many ground their own beans. One day while eating with a family, he asked the housewife \"Sister, do you have any coffee beans?\" \"Why, yes brother Tant.\" \"Well,\" he replied, \"If you'll bring me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/coffee-bean-on-white-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}