THE BLESSED HEART (4)

“For where your treasure is, there will your HEART be also” – Luke 12:34

For Believers, the Qualities of THE BLESSED HEART are not synonymous to the so-called “good life”: “For where your treasure is, there will your HEART be also” (Lk.12:34). Having “good feelings” from enjoying a successful life characterised by a prosperous career, ground-shaking achievements, a string of awards, degrees, and titles, massive properties, or financial wealth is splendid, but these are not the distinctive marks of a Blessed life. Non-believers experience many of those things, yet their hearts are far from God! Rather than turn to God, they feel self-sufficient, self-righteous, and proud, trusting more in themselves, assuming that they don’t really need God to be happy. Alas, earthly possessions are temporary and can be stripped off suddenly like Job’s wealth and comfort that disappeared in one fateful day. The richest and most enduring blessings derive from the virtues of the Blessed Heart.

Yesterday, we highlighted Seven Qualities of the Blessed Heart, namely: The contrite, forgiving, forgiven, believing, purified, trusting, meek or humble heart. Today, we identify additional Virtues of the Blessed Heart. These are as follows:

The Hungry Heart: “BLESSED are those who HUNGER and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Mt.5:6). This is the fourth Beatitude… Our Lord Jesus knows was not a stranger to physical hunger. The Bible records that having “fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward hungry” (Mt.4:2). He could relate to both physically and spiritually hungry hearts. He knows what it means to have a hungry heart and that His heavenly manna is the only food that satisfies the longings of our souls!

The Seeking Heart: “Glory in His holy name; let the HEARTS of those rejoice who SEEK the Lord! SEEK the Lord and His strength; SEEK His face evermore!”(Psa.105:3-4). Here, we are enjoined to search with care and intentionality and to continually and eagerly seek God. Psalm 119:2 also says: “BLESSED are those who keep His testimonies, who SEEK Him with the WHOLE HEART!”

The Pilgrim Heart: “BLESSED is the man whose strength is in You, whose HEART is set on pilgrimage” (Psa.84:5). Our hearts must be set on pilgrimage! The Believer in Christ is a Pilgrim on the Royal Route to Heaven: “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and PILGRIMS, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1Pet.2:11). Nurturing and sustaining a Pilgrim Heart helps us to progress on our Journey of Faith on the road that leads to God, seeking to fulfil life’s purposes, while growing closer to Him.

The Generous or Giving Heart: “And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he said, “It is more BLESSED to GIVE than to receive” (Acts 20:35b). Proverbs 22:9 assures: “He who has a GENEROUS eye will be BLESSED, for he give of his bread to the poor.” Our Lord Jesus said of such a heart: “And you will be BLESSED, because they cannot pay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Lk.14:14).

The Merciful Heart: “He is ever MERCIFUL, and lends; and his descendants are BLESSED” (Psa.37:26). The fifth beatitude echoes this same thought: “BLESSED are the MERCIFUL, for they shall obtain mercy” (Mt.5:7). “BLESSED is he who considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he will be BLESSED on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies” (Psa.41:1-2).

The Rejoicing or Joyful Heart: “BLESSED are the people who know the JOYFUL sound! They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance” (Psa.89:15). It’s natural to rejoice when things are smooth-sailing, but capping the beatitudes is the description of a heart that rejoices in the face of persecution: “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. REJOICE and be EXCEEDINGLY GLAD, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Mt.5:11-12).

Other dimensions of the Blessed Heart are: The Instructed Heart, the Obedient Heart, the Enduring Heart, and the Peaceful Heart.