“There is a widespread belief among Christians today that the heart is desperately wicked – even after a person comes to Christ.

It is a crippling belief.

And it is untrue” ~John Eldredge

I recently just finished “Waking The Dead’ by John Eldredge, and let me say, I loved it!

In this book, John talks about how most of Christianity teaches about the heart. We teach that the heart is evil, something to guard, to lock in a cell and never let out or it will destroy you. But that is so incredibly wrong!

Your story does not begin with sin. It begins with a glory bestowed upon you by God. It does not start in Genesis 3; it starts in Genesis 1. ~ John Eldredge

The very idea of what Christ came to do was to bring freedom to us, to restore us to the life God had originally intended for us. A life of glory, not shame. A life with a good, pure heart, not one with an evil, oppressive heart.

The bible says “out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). So if I speak good, life-giving stuff, I must have good, life-giving stuff in my heart. But if my heart is evil, how can it have that good, life-giving stuff? Christ came to transform us, renew us, make us whole, pure. If you know Christ, and are a follower of Him, then your heart is good! Don’t ever forget that, or let the enemy tell you otherwise.

I touched on this before, but many people take the verse that says “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” to mean, “don’t let your heart get out, or it could do so much damage” like it’s an angry Hulk, or King Kong, or Godzilla or something… No, first it says “it is the wellspring of LIFE.” Evil can’t bring forth life, so if your heart is the wellspring of life, it must be good…

No, rather what this verse is saying is “be careful what you let into your heart, for it is where your life comes from. Guard it like you would guard the most valuable treasure, not letting it get tainted, or tarnished, or dirty. It is the most precious thing to God in all of heaven. If you don’t believe me, then I’ll end with this quote, to drive my point home:

“Do you remember that though He made the heavens and the earth in all their glory, the desert and the open sea, the meadow and the Milky Way, and said, ‘It is good,’ it was only AFTER he made you that he said, ‘It is VERY good’ (Gen. 1:31). Think of it: your original glory was greater than anything that’s ever taken your breath away in nature. […] God endowed you with a glory so deep and mythic that all creation pales in comparison.” ~ John Eldredge