Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

By virtue of first use, heart here in the Hebrew is leb pronounced lāv. There is a rather long list of definitions for this word and I would like to focus on the places of the heart to understand what I asked yesterday, do we love God with mind or heart.

The seat of appetite.

The seat of passions and emotions.

The seat of courage.

I have chosen these three to focus upon because they are identified as seats, a place within us that implies residence or to rest upon, i.e. seated on the right throne of God in Christ.

We all were born with appetites and those have not been taken from us. I do not have to label those appetites for you, you all know them personally. Those in Christ also thirst and hunger after righteousness. Matthew 5:6

We all have passions and emotions. There are seven words in the Greek for love. Only those in Christ have been endowed with God’s perfect love, agapē.

Where we differ most from one personality to another is the issues of courage. We have the capacity for courage and we often do not know exactly the extent of that courage until tested. In this allow me to distinguish between human courage and Godly courage.

Godly courage allows our hunger and thirst for righteousness to control our fleshly appetites.

Godly courage allows agapē love to control passions and emotions.

Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

This verse takes on new meaning when seen in the light of self-control based on your new creation in Christ and not by force of will.

A Christian’s heart after God is seated in Christ.