All my life I have been fascinated by the workings of the heart. The heart is the nerve and blood center of the body.  Last year T.D. Jakes’ book and sermon series on Instinct really touched my heart. Ever since, I’ve tried to balance head and heart to improve my instincts and create an untroubled heart.

Last September, I wrote an article called Healing a Troubled Heart. My daughter Talibah loved that column so much she posted it on her Facebook page for her friends to read. This January, I preached a eulogy titled, A Golden Heart.  Now I’m writing another article about the heart. God just keeps bringing it back to the heart.

Perhaps God is finally striking a balance between my head and my heart. By the way, Jakes says “The combination of head and heart are the parents of our better instincts.”

In John (14:1-4) Jesus lays out a prescriptive, implying it is the untroubled heart believing in God and in Christ that guides us home to God.

This means we must believe His Word in our minds, “If you believe in (or trust) God you need to believe in (or trust) me (Jesus)” (John 14:2). This is the remedy against having a troubled heart. We must keep our minds and our hearts in full trust of Him in order to have an untroubled heart.

It troubles our hearts when we don’t live right, and we can’t live right when we don’t believe right. The central question of life during our earthly journey is which direction are you headed: toward an eternal home in God (or) eternal torment without Him?

We Christians must keep our minds peaceful while all else might be keeping up a fuss around us. We must be still in our hearts in order to get the proper spiritual coordinates directing us to the Father’s house.

Jesus stresses that we should “Trust that there is plenty of room in God’s house, for you. If it were not so, He said, ‘I would have told you so.’” (John 14:2) He went on to say “He was on His way home to get a room ready for you”.

Therefore, as He said, “If I am on my way to get your room ready, you can believe I am coming back for you.” I do believe He’s coming back to get me, so I can live where He lives.

Thomas didn’t understand this message so he questioned Christ when He said, “You already know the road I’m taking.” Thomas replied “We have no idea of where you’re going, so how do you expect us to know the road”? (John 14:4-5)

Truth is we do know the way because it’s been mapped out in our hearts and our instincts, but if our spiritual “Global Positioning System” (GPS) is inoperative or deposited into a troubled heart, we get lost.

“The GPS is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.”  Christ is the sinner’s GPS to God.

The Bible tells us the Word of God is written on our hearts; they are to become a heartfelt covenant with God. This creates a sound GPS system for our hearts, which leads us to our own specific road to God.

My heart gets excited when I am headed home to visit my family in Mobile, Alabama. Going home holds a special place in my heart; it’s a joy I get excited about. I imagine going home to God is the same. True joy is found in knowing we are on our way home, to spend eternity with Jesus and God!

The heartfelt covenant can only carry us so far. The grace of God takes us the rest of the way and fills the gap! If we cannot ‘let not our hearts be troubled,’ then our spiritual GPS cannot work properly and guide us back home to God.  

The Rev. Dr. R. Joaquin Willis is pastor of the Church of the Open Door UCC in Miami’s Liberty City community. He may be reached at 305-759-0373 or pastor@churchoftheopendoormiami.org