A Divided Heart

Their heart is divided; now they are held guilty. He will break down their altars; He will ruin their sacred pillars. 

Hosea 10:2

Sports teams must work in unity together. Everyone on the team must have the same goal to win the game. If they end up having various goals, the team is divided and will fail to win the game. Unity will multiply the strength of the team, while division will cause problems and tear it down.

Hosea writes that the heart of the people of Israel was divided and as a result, they are being held guilty. God will break down their altars and sacred pillars.

A person’s heart is made up of four different chambers. Each one has a specific duty to accomplish. In order for a person to live, all four chambers must work together in unity for the same purpose to keep one alive.

In life, people are constantly chasing after different things. For a moment they want one thing, and then the next moment they want something else. Their heart becomes divided as to what they want.

Many people in the church also have a divided heart. They want to keep one foot in heaven while having one foot in the world. Claiming to believe in Jesus they also want to participate in the sinful activities and thoughts of the world. This goes against what is needed.

Believers are told to love the Lord their God with all of their heart, not just a part. Loving both God and the world causes a divided heart and God will cast out those with a divided heart as He did Israel.

One needs to commit the whole heart to God, fleeing sin and running after the things of God. Unity of the heart brings unity with God and others.

In your life, you have many different things going on, work, rest, church, family, friends, and more. You have to make choices constantly as to what to do or not do. Some of the choices may cause you to move away from what God wants of you.

Make the choice to have a whole heart towards what God wants. Do not allow your heart to become divided between God and the world. The world will only bring death. God will bring life. A divided heart will only bring death.

Is your heart divided?

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will seek only the things of God; that you will have a whole heart towards God; that God will not have to break down your altars; and that God will give you strength to resist the ways of the world.

Purchase Tom’s New Daily Devotional Here!

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Insights from Tom

About the Author

Tom Arn is happily married for 30 years to his wonderful wife Cammie. They are blessed by God with eight wonderful children and one grandchild. Tom has worked as a children’s pastor, senior pastor, and many times (and currently) as a Sunday School Teacher. He has a General Ministries degree with a Bible College. He started doing a short devotional type Bible study on Facebook in 2014, going through the books of the Bible chapter by chapter, section by section. Tom writes what he feels God is placing on his heart.

Bio & Posts