A Letter from our President
By Lenore Tucker
What is the Heart? Medically speaking, the heart is a muscular organ that pumps life giving blood to all parts of the human body through the body’s circulatory system. This provides the oxygen and nutrients that our bodies need to survive.
A healthy heart pumps the right amount of blood at a rate that allows the human body to function as God created. But when our hearts fail to pump the way they should, or our arteries become clogged preventing blood from flowing in or out of the heart at its optimal rate, then we are faced with illness and possibly even death.
It’s safe to say that the human heart is one of the most important organs God placed in our bodies. It’s also safe to say that a person’s heart is also one of the most important spiritual organs God has given to us as well.
Spiritually, the heart symbolizes the center or core of our being, from which prayer and morality originate. The heart is the primary source for much of what happens in our spiritual lives. It explains why love is associated with the heart.
When the Bible speaks about the heart it is really referring to the mind, will, and emotions. Every choice we make, every decision we make, everything we do flows out of what is in our heart. The Bible says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4: 23 NIV). When we read about the heart in the Bible, it is about the place where you have your will, your attitude, and intentions, and which is the source of your thoughts, actions, and words. The heart is the core of who you are as a person.
When God looked at the heart of David, He saw a man after His own heart (I Samuel 13: 14). We cannot see what the Lord sees, and we must rely on Him for wisdom. We can trust when God looks at our hearts, He sees our faithfulness, our true character, and our value as individuals.
"The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath," Jesus says in Mark chapter 2 verse 27. The Sabbath is a gift. It’s a way of living. A Sabbath heart is restful. It is attentive to the presence of God. I would like to think with a Sabbath heart we could better deal with the noises of the world and love ourselves and our neighbors better. When we truly know Jesus, Sabbath is not strange to us; it is not just a day off from work, it is the very heart of God’s love for us.
Being with the Father on the Sabbath will revive your soul. The more time we spend with the Lord, the more whole we become. The Sabbath is proof of God’s love. The Sabbath is really very simple. Jesus wants personal and uninterrupted time with us. A whole day set aside for us and our best friend. It sounds almost too good to be true! Sabbath rest will increase our spirituality as well as promote our growth. We must rejuvenate our hearts so we can be blessed, invigorated, and refocused. Will you honor God with Sabbath rest?
