A Wide, Grateful, and Undivided Heart

A narrow heart is an ungrateful heart. An ungrateful heart has no room for God and cannot offer him the praise due his name. Writing to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 6:3-13, 7:1), Paul says, "our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections."

The Corinthians were imprisoning themselves by crowding out the true faith with carnal and worldly appendages. The temple of their heart was not clean. Instead, it was corrupted by outside influences. The Corinthians were trying to hold on to some of their old pagan ways while still claiming to love God wholeheartedly. Paul says this is not possible. Righteousness has no partnership with lawlessness. Light has no fellowship with darkness. Christ has nothing in common with Belial. Believers share no portion with unbelievers. The temple of God, that is, the body of believers, has no agreement with the temple of idols.

Paul's plea to the Corinthians to "widen your hearts also" has a certain irony in light of the present day. We often hear that to be "open hearted" is to be accepting of all religions, all viewpoints, all opinions. But Paul says the opposite. The syncretism of the Corinthians was not a demonstration of open-heartedness, but of double-mindedness. Their hearts were so divided as to be devoid of the joy and gratitude due to God for his promise to make of them a holy people, set apart for service to him. They had not given given their hearts fully in praise to God but had, instead, taken advantage of his graciousness and indulged their carnal nature. As a result, their hearts were not wide, so as to overflow with the joy of the Lord, but narrow and unable to express gratitude.

Like the nine lepers who failed to return thanks to Jesus for healing them (Luke 17:11-19), narrow-hearted persons take the grace of God for granted and go about their lives indulging themselves with no sense of gratitude toward God. The Samaritan, however, is an example of the truly open-hearted person. When he saw that he had been healed, he "turned back" (literally, "repented") and fell at Jesus' feet, praising and thanking him. An undivided heart is a heart surrendered wholly to God.