We take the condition of our heart seriously. I remember about five years ago when I had an annual checkup that my family doctor referred me to a cardiologist. He saw something on an X-ray he did not like. It turned out to be nothing, but my visit with the cardiologist was enlightening. I got to actually see the chambers of my heart beating and the blood flowing through the valves, thanks to the latest technology.
God takes the condition of spiritual heart seriously. In fact, I ran across a compound adjective that is used of God only twice in the Scriptures. The word is “heart-knowing.” We have a lot of traditional ways that we understand the Bible describes God: God is love, God is everywhere, etc. Probably the description of God as “heart-knowing” does not immediately come to mind.
The fascinating thing is that this adjective describing the character of God is found twice in Acts: 1:24 and 15:8. The idea of “heart-knowing” (καρδιογνώστης, kardiognostes) means one who is a knower of hearts and understands what is on the inside of human beings. This affirmation of God’s character is found once in the Apostolic Fathers:
“For those, then, who were called before these days, did the Lord appoint repentance, for the Lord knows the heart (literally in the Greek it says: for the Lord being a heart-knower), and knowing all things beforehand he knew the weakness of man and the subtlety of the devil, that he will do some evil to the servants of God, and will do them mischief” [The Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate IV. 3.4; The Apostolic Fathers, Loeb Classical Library, Volume II, page3 84-85].
From Acts and the Shepherd of Hermas we find out that this essence of God is discussed within the context of the weakness of humanity & sin, Judas being replaced as an apostle, and the Jerusalem Council in which the Gentiles were accepted without keeping the Jewish law.
God knows about the presence of sin in our life. God knows about who should be a leader in the church. God knows about what the converted heart should do to be faithful to him.
Yes, cardio-Christianity. We serve the greatest cardiologist in the world. God knows our hearts. May that awareness bless us moment by moment.
In Christian love, Curtis
God takes the condition of spiritual heart seriously. In fact, I ran across a compound adjective that is used of God only twice in the Scriptures. The word is “heart-knowing.” We have a lot of traditional ways that we understand the Bible describes God: God is love, God is everywhere, etc. Probably the description of God as “heart-knowing” does not immediately come to mind.
The fascinating thing is that this adjective describing the character of God is found twice in Acts: 1:24 and 15:8. The idea of “heart-knowing” (καρδιογνώστης, kardiognostes) means one who is a knower of hearts and understands what is on the inside of human beings. This affirmation of God’s character is found once in the Apostolic Fathers:
“For those, then, who were called before these days, did the Lord appoint repentance, for the Lord knows the heart (literally in the Greek it says: for the Lord being a heart-knower), and knowing all things beforehand he knew the weakness of man and the subtlety of the devil, that he will do some evil to the servants of God, and will do them mischief” [The Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate IV. 3.4; The Apostolic Fathers, Loeb Classical Library, Volume II, page3 84-85].
From Acts and the Shepherd of Hermas we find out that this essence of God is discussed within the context of the weakness of humanity & sin, Judas being replaced as an apostle, and the Jerusalem Council in which the Gentiles were accepted without keeping the Jewish law.
God knows about the presence of sin in our life. God knows about who should be a leader in the church. God knows about what the converted heart should do to be faithful to him.
Yes, cardio-Christianity. We serve the greatest cardiologist in the world. God knows our hearts. May that awareness bless us moment by moment.
In Christian love, Curtis
