Being summoned by the cardiologist comes as a shock to anyone. When it happened to me, I had to take a good look at my lifestyle. Sometimes we need to pay attention to the summons from the one Who created our hearts. When was the last time you allowed God to reveal the state of your heart?
2MefromHim Devotionals
Summoned by the Cardiologist
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:6
“The cardiologist would like to have you come in next week.” No one expects to be summoned by the cardiologist. It ranks right up there with “I’m sorry Mrs. Holtman, but it’s cancer.” The state of our heart is important to both physical health and spiritual health.
The heart is an amazing thing. Did you know the first heart cell begins to beat at about 4 week’s gestation? Your heart is about the size of your two hands clasped together. The human heart pumps about 1.5 gallons of blood per minute, that’s about 100,000 beats and 2,000 gallons of blood per day through about 60,000 miles of blood vessels. Happiness and emotional well-being help prevent heart disease; in fact, a good hard laugh sends about 20% more blood throughout your entire body. The state of your heart is important to your mind, spirit, and body.
The Bible has a lot to say about the heart. It is the seat of good and evil within man, and God knows what is going on in the heart of every man. Genesis 6 says that God saw the heart of man was “only evil all of the time.” Job 31 says that people hide their guilt in their heart. Jesus said that, “What fills the heart comes out of the mouth.” So if you’re feeling angry, see what’s going on in your heart.
Our response to God comes from our hearts, either to accept Him or not. We are to keep God’s commandments “on our hearts.” Psalm 7 says that God saves “the upright in heart.” In Acts 15, Paul says that God cleanses people’s hearts “with faith,” and Romans 10 says, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Sometimes our hearts need to be checked by the doctor, but our hearts also must be checked on a regular basis by God. Even a heart that is not in perfect physical health can still be right with the ultimate cardiologist, God. The key is to listen to what He says about our relationship with Him. When was the last time you answered God’s summons to discuss the state of your heart?
© Norma Gail Thurston Holtman, April 14, 2015
About the author:
Norma Gail’s debut contemporary Christian romance, Land of My Dreams, released in April 2014. She has led weekly women’s Bible studies for 19 years. Her devotionals and poetry have appeared at ChristianDevotions.us, the StitchesthruTime blog, and in “The Secret Place.” She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, FaithWriters, Romance Writers of America, and the New Mexico Christian Novelists. She and her husband of 38 years have two adult children.
Connect with Norma:
www.normagail.org
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorNormaGail
https://plus.google.com/b/102717101441594679714/+Normagail/about/p/pub
http://pinterest.com/normagailth/boards/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7874459.Norma_Gail
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/norma-gail-thurston-holtman/42/71a/3b2
https://twitter.com/Norma_Gail
Book links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Land-My-Dreams-Norma-Gail/dp/1941103170/ or
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/land-of-my-dreams-norma-gail/1119606864 ?ean=9781941103173
Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas Bookstore: http://store.lpcbooks.com/product/land-of-my-dreams/
What a convicting message for us all, Norma. this devotion reminds me of Psalm 139:23 – “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.”
You’ve inspired me to allow the Great Doctor to give my heart a check up NOW.
Thank you for letting me know! It’s always encouraging to know that God uses things in our lives to touch others!
Good stuff! We’ve been studying heart attitudes at my church and just this weekend addressed it with attitude…in defeating willful sin. So difficult but worth it. And it hit home this week. Tough stuff, but we need to do that check up regularly!
Thanks for taking time to comment! We do have to keep a good eye on it!
Healthy stuff! How often we miss heart checks in the midst of our comings and goings. And without it, our heart grows cold and we might not even realize it. And we wonder why we haven’t heard from the Lord in a while. *sigh*
Thanks for commenting, Susan! I’m glad it was meaningful to you!
Norma, I love how you weave in facts and also Scripture. For some reason, the fact about laughing really made me smile. We try to do a lot of that. Sometimes, it’s the only exercise I get. 🙂 Wonderful post to examine our hearts through the Heart Giver.
Thanks for the encouragement, Bonnie! I was a nurse, so I see the correlations pretty clearly!