{"id":7117,"date":"2011-06-06T07:01:19","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T12:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/?p=7117"},"modified":"2011-06-06T07:01:19","modified_gmt":"2011-06-06T12:01:19","slug":"wiw-the-hearts-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/2011\/20110606-7117.htm","title":{"rendered":"WiW: The Heart’s Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

I can’t be entirely certain that I’m quoting “Letters to Juliet” accurately, but over the course of the movie, the protagonist asks her older companion (who is looking for her lost love): “What is your heart telling you?”<\/p>\n

It’s a theme echoed in a dozens of Hollywood films, in chick flicks, and in daytime television. “What does your heart say?”<\/p>\n

And with it there’s the implicit command: “You should do as your heart demands.”<\/p>\n

But is the heart a sage such that we should strain our ears to hear its every thought? Is the heart a guru such that we should follow its every instruction?<\/p>\n

Jon Bloom spoke of the issue in an article<\/a> he wrote for Desiring God:<\/p>\n

“Princess Diana once said, ‘Only do what your heart tells you.’<\/p>\n

This is a creed believed by millions. It\u2019s a statement of faith in one of the great pop cultural myths of the Western world. It\u2019s a gospel proclaimed in many of our stories, movies, and songs.<\/p>\n

It states that your heart is a compass inside of you that will point you to your own true north if you can just see it clearly. Your heart is a true guide that will lead you to happiness if you can just tune into it. We are lost, and our heart will save us.<\/p>\n

This sounds so simple and liberating. It\u2019s tempting to believe.<\/p>\n

Until you consider that your heart has sociopathic tendencies.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jon goes on to say:<\/p>\n

“If our hearts are compasses, they are like Jack Sparrow\u2019s.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No, our hearts are not future-seeing, altruistic sages. They are self-seeking, antisocial slavers.<\/p>\n

No, our hearts are not wise guides or powerful gurus. They are forever oscillating needles, unsure of true north or even of their own desires.<\/p>\n

But if the heart is such a faulty sage, such a misleading guide, what is the purpose of the heart?<\/p>\n

May I suggest that the heart’s purpose is not first to speak, but to hear; not to lead, but to be led?<\/p>\n

May I suggest that the heart’s purpose–indeed our<\/i> purpose–is not to be consumed with itself or to follow after itself, but to be consumed with another, lost in another?<\/p>\n

We taste this in the sublimity of early love, when self’s considerations (even eating and sleeping) lose precedence to the exaltation of the beloved.<\/p>\n

But this is only a foretaste of a much greater reality–the reality that I posit is part of our divine purpose in life.<\/p>\n

To be lost in worship of the One who is so far greater than our hearts that our hearts must bow to His every whim.<\/p>\n

David Brooks of The New York Times says:<\/p>\n

“The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It\u2019s to lose yourself.”
\nHT: Justin Buzzard<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But while Brooks talks of losing oneself in “tasks”, in general, I would argue that our purpose is not to be lost in “tasks” but in One Sacred Task.<\/p>\n

Our heart’s purpose is to be lost glorying in Christ.<\/p>\n

\n

Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s<\/a> meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can’t be entirely certain that I’m quoting “Letters to Juliet” accurately, but over the course of the movie, the protagonist asks her older companion (who is looking for her lost love): “What is your heart telling you?” It’s a theme echoed in a dozens of Hollywood films, in chick flicks, and in daytime television. … Read more WiW: The Heart’s Purpose<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}