From the Bottom of My Heart

     The word heart appears 830 times in the Bible (King James Version--give or take 100 depending on the version you use).  If it is mentioned that often, it must be important.  Some notable verse about the heart are:

Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?"

Psalm 37:4, "Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

Romans 10:9 "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

  These are just three verses that refer to the heart.  There are hundreds of others.  Yet just from this basic view, we can ascertain that it is not referring to the organ in the chest that pumps blood.  It is referring to a person's innermost being.  The core of who he or she is.

     It isn't just the Bible that uses the term heart this way.  It is common in our own way of speaking.  Have you ever thanked someone "from the bottom of my heart,"?  How about telling someone you love them with "all my heart"?  If something has hurt you, have you said, "That just breaks my heart."?  Obviously, these phrases are not about your physical heart, but emotional and spiritual.  People understand this vernacular.

     Here is my point.  When I was five years old, I fell under conviction from the Holy Spirit that I was a sinner, incapable of saving myself or pleasing God on my own.  I needed to be "born again" (a term that is both biblical and used by my teacher at church at the time).  The Holy Spirit was at work in me, and after three days of struggling with conviction, I asked Jesus to come into my heart.  I had also been exposed to this terminology.  Oddly, I instinctively knew that asking Jesus into my heart was the same thing as being born again.  It was a real conversion experience.  The moment I surrendered, believing that Christ died for my sins and asking Him to live in my heart, I knew I was saved.  I had absolute assurance of my salvation.  I had true peace.  That restless conviction vanished instantly.

     For much of my growing up, I used the term "invite Jesus into my heart" when referring to salvation.  At the age of ten, I led a friend to the Lord using this terminology, as well as the verse John 3:16.  There was very strong evidence that this, too, was a genuine conversion.

     That sweet, simple term fell seriously out of favor in my teen and adult years.  People began taking exception to it, saying, "Jesus doesn't live in your heart!  Your heart is an organ in your chest that pumps blood!  Jesus doesn't live in that!"  Others said it confused children, who might get the wrong idea that Jesus would physically get inside their chest, hurting them in the process.  Still others claimed the phrase was unbiblical.  Two ministries I love and respect very much, Child Evangelism Fellowship and AWANA both stepped away from the phrase. siting similar reasons.

     On top of all this, I am from Southern California, the home of spiritual legalism (at least it seems that way at times!).  The Christian community in my home state is very well-versed in scripture, but can get very threatened by anything even slightly different than the way their home church does things.  Different denominations (or, as is common in Southern California, non-denominational denominations that think they are too spiritual to actually admit to being a denomination but operate as one anyway--and there are many of those!) have different terminology they deem the most spiritual.  Very prevalent in Los Angeles is the John MacArthur crowed, and most of them that I have met only allow for the phrase, "Put your faith in Christ alone for salvation".  Any other wording (whether it be "receive Christ" "become a Christian" "get saved" or the very infamous "invite Jesus into your heart") is viewed as heresy.  I have had many people from this mindset jump on me when I would teach evangelism workshops at conferences.  It grew very tiresome, constantly having to check myself, and sometimes feeling beat up by fellow believers because I didn't use their sacred words.  This was something I was very freed from when we lived in the Midwest.  The Christian community there has better things to do than suspect each other of heresy!  If anything, there might have been a slight tendency to go to the other extreme, which, of course, has its own set of troubles.

     I will never forget the man who told my husband and me that we weren't truly Christians, because, when we both got saved as children, we "invited Jesus into our hearts."  We found his assertion offensive and vulgar.  This was when I found that the phrase obsession had gone too far.

     It may be interesting to note that "Invite Jesus into your heart" is, in fact biblical.  For so many years, I kowtowed to the legalism, being very careful not to use this phrase, and also to use the preferred phrasing of those I was around at any given time.  It wasn't until I was thirty years old that I discovered Ephesians 3:17, which says: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith."  This verse actually refers to Christ being in our hearts.  Couple it with Revelations 3:20, which says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock!  If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in..."  I would say these verses validate the phrase "invite Jesus into your heart."  If, by faith, I am repenting of my sins and trusting Christ to save me, I am a Christian, whatever phraseology I choose to utilize.

     As to the other concerns raised about the phrase, I have never, ever had a child confused by the expression "invite Jesus into your heart."  I have never had a child think I was taking about Jesus physically opening their chest up and climbing in.  Children and adults alike know that we use the word heart to mean our inner person.  Like with any phrase, though, it needs to be explained.  If I was going to use the phrase, "Born again," I would, of course, explain the meaning (Nicodemus needed Jesus to explain that one in John chapter 3).  The same is true with any phraseology.  The thing is, there are so many verses in the New Testament that describe salvation.  Different phrases are used to mean the same thing, and I believe each one has its place in different witnessing situations.  Each one takes a slightly different approach, but means the same thing.  Think of the beauty!  Asking Jesus into your heart is a picture of having your sinful heart renewed as Christ indwells it.  Being born again is a new start--a new life in Christ.  Receiving Christ as Savior depicts that He is a gift!  Getting saved reveals being rescued.  The list could go on and on, but you get the idea.  All of these biblical phrases reveal something beautiful about our salvation.

     I just read an article that stated it was "legalistic" to be able to have a time and date of your salvation, and that it should be a gradual thing.  This same article also completely decried the phrase "invite Jesus into your heart" for the same reason many have given.  Finally, this article said that believers shouldn't be baptized until they are adults, living on their own.  I disagree with all of this.  Having a date of salvation to write in one's Bible is not legalistic.  It can give assurance of salvation when the doubts come.  I, for one, can point back and say, "On February 7, 1987, I asked Christ to save me."  On the other hand, some people didn't write it down, and don't recall the date.  That is okay.  God doesn't need it.  According to Ephesians 1:4, God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.  He doesn't need our date of conversion.  That is for our benefit, if we are fortunate enough to have it.  And, while coming to understand who Jesus is can be gradual, salvation itself is not.  It has to be instantaneous.  That's why the thief on the cross could be saved.  There has to come a point of recognizing sin, repentance, and trusting Christ as the solution.  It doesn't have to be dramatic.  But you can't be partly saved.  You are or you aren't.  So that's point two I disagree with in the article.  As for baptism, I was baptized at age nine.  I had been saved four years, and I had a desire to be baptized.  When my parents, Sunday school teachers, and pastor all asked me why, I simply said, "Because Jesus told us to." Everybody thought this was a good enough answer, and I was allowed to do it.  Even though I know I was saved at age five, my faith became much more mature after I took this step of obedience at age nine.  It was also a very real time for me.  I believe anyone who is a born again Christian can and should be baptized.  I think criticizing phrases and setting age limits on believer's baptism is much more "legalistic" than having a time and place written down for when you were saved.

     I will close with this question:  Have you asked Jesus into your heart?