Wisdom Wednesday: The Mind of Wisdom – Part 8
Pathologies of the Mind and Heart
Submitted by Debbie’s Dad
“ So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart…” (Eph 4:17–18 NASB 95)
It is difficult to distinguish our mind and heart precisely because they are faculties of our personhood that are so closely related. Even the original language words in the Old Testament are a challenge to distinguish these two aspects of who we are. Theologians generally agree that the heart or soul refers to the very center of who we are (our innermost personality) and the mind refers to our thinking, intellect and interaction with the world by the spoken word.
David said that God tries both our hearts and our minds (this original work is literally “Kidneys” and is translated minds): “ O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds. (Psa. 7:9)
The mind perceives (thoughts, imaginations) and understands, it is involved in making intellectual judgments and articulating our thinking in the spoken word. The heart is involved in our volition (desire and choice), emotion (involving love and hate) and ultimately our spiritual attitude toward God.
When we soften our heart to yield to God, we receive a new heart (Rom 5:5) and are able to love Him (I John 4:9) and our mind can be renewed (Rom 12:2). Paul instructed the believers to bring our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5). Contrasting our lives with unbelievers, Paul said we are to walk (live our lives) with a yielded (softened) heart and renewed mind. (Eph 4:17–18)
When we look at the pathologies (diseases or sicknesses) of our heart and mind, we can find some helpful distinctions in the Scriptural warnings in both the Old and New Testaments. 
The table below summarizes the characteristics of the mind and heart, the effects of regeneration as we trust in Christ, and the unique pathologies to which each is vulnerable.
The mind is vulnerable to being depraved (immoral), blinded to God’s message, conformed to the world, and double-minded with divided loyalties (deceitful) toward others. The heart, on the other hand, is vulnerable to being hardened,
Jeremiah asked, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer 17:9-10)
It is Jesus who searches the hearts and minds of men to know if they are yielded to Him and renewed day-by-day. (Rom 8;27; Rev 2:23)
Let us have yielded hearts and renewed minds to walk with Him, and follow the way of wisdom.
