What does your heart like best?
“…for what the heart likes best, the mind studies most. Those that can bring their hearts to delight in Christ know most of His ways. Wisdom loves him who loves her.”
- Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed
March Madness has begun, and for some of us, we have taken licks because our favorite programs have fallen short. In the moments of basketball ecstasy and head-on-the-floor defeat, my heart has been exposed and found wanting.
As keyless children sing during Christmastime, you will hear me belt “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” in the middle of March each year. It is at this point of the calendar where I fill out half a dozen brackets, study matchups and gaslight my own brain into believing that the University of Kansas will compete for a national title.
This year has been no different: for a week I researched the teams in our region, picked paths that made the most sense for my Jayhawks to cut down the nets in April, and played out all scenarios that could arise. Studied, prepared, and emotionally invested, my family has had to sit next to me as my blood pressure rises and falls with athletic performances of 20 year-olds. And like the previous 3 years, some of my closest friends (who have no idea who I am) have not made it past the second round of a potential 6-game trek.
My wife and three sons have watched me jumping in our living room (almost into our fan), then falling to the ground with my face on floor.
Before you think it —or continue thinking it— I am mildly embarrassed that my emotions are as tied up into this perennial event. I have another chance to get fired up next year for goodness sake!
I draw out this image of a grown man pouting, not only as a confession, but as a recognition that Richard Sibbes’ quote above is unbelievably accurate. Another man of wisdom communicated something similar:
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
- Jesus, Matthew 6:21
In this season, my heart tends to be given to a game, and the sacrifices I make to gain knowledge surrounding the topic tend to feel like no sacrifice at all. This is a profound recognition because I can now realize that my failure to get in God’s Word and spend time focusing on Him begins in one spot: a heart that is not lined up with my King.
It is far easier to focus on something trite and temporal, than the God that wants all of me. The implications, however, are vast and weighty. There is a recycling component to focusing my heart and energies on Jesus: when I slow down and remember who sits on the throne and His deep and abiding care for me, my affections carry me to learn more about Him and the Kingdom He has called me into. The cycle continues as I further discover His revealed love for me, and for those around me, which inevitably throws me back into state of thirst wherein He is the only satisfaction.
The cyclical movement does not only have stops at the corners of affection and knowledge; as His love and the knowledge of His character grows in me, something in me changes and grows. While the area of love and wisdom grows (albeit imperfectly), the taste of other desires and the foolish reactions within me tend to lower moment by moment. The statement is true and profound: Wisdom loves him who loves her.
Our battle is one that is fought over the truth, but the battle is not consigned to our minds entirely. The brain cannot disconnect from the heart for long. And if the heart is not affected, the brain will not press on; instead it will chase after the true affections.
As truth enters our hearts and minds, something shifts in us and makes us long for more and more of the perfection of the One who reigns amidst truth and light.
If you are failing to sit before Jesus, soaking in His infinite beauty and love, it likely means that your heart is focused on, or distracted by, something that you are longing for more. You cannot serve two masters, and you cannot consistently pursue and be changed by something that your heart is not attached to.
What does your heart like best?