Proverbs 4:23, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life," is read as a call to use more vigilance than over anything else to keep the heart full of wisdom from above, which means being faithful. In Proverbs, the heart is the center of one's inner life and the orientation toward God from which all thinking, feeling, and choosing proceed. Taking wisdom into the heart is therefore vital, because every thought, word, and choice flows out of it. Guarding the heart is equated with Paul's command in Ephesians 6:10 to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. This strength differs from the world's self-confidence. It joins diligent human effort with the spiritual power Christ supplies, so that we accomplish nothing spiritually without Him yet must still do our part. Elsewhere the heart appears as the place of grief and joy, and the joy of the Lord, grounded in assurance of salvation, energizes it against discouragement, apathy, and Satan's attacks. Losing heart means defeat, while taking heart, as Paul urged the shipwrecked men, comes from God's word of assurance. God, who searches the heart, knows the Spirit's intercession on our behalf.

The heart symbol, often seen in connection with Valentine's Day, carries a historical association with Baal or Nimrod. This connection arises from the Babylonian word for heart, which is similar to Baal, thus linking the symbol to this ancient deity. This association underscores the pagan roots embedded in the imagery and traditions surrounding the holiday, highlighting a deeper cultural and spiritual significance that conflicts with Christian values.

The heart, the ubiquitous emblem of Valentine's Day, is a symbol for Nimrod. The Romans acquired it from the Babylonians, who spoke Chaldean, a language in which the word for heart was bal or bel. Because that sound resembles Baal, the heart became an emblem for Nimrod, whom the source identifies with Baal, the Phoenician sun god of fertility and nature. Nimrod, the mighty hunter of Genesis 10:9, was in a sense the people's "valentine," since the word comes from the Latin valens, meaning strong, powerful, mighty. The heart is therefore tied to the same chain of fertility deities running through Lupercus, Faunus, Pan, Baal, and Nimrod, and to Cupid, who carries a hunter's bow and arrows and is identified with Nimrod as the son of Venus. The thread joining them all is fertility, or plainly, sex. Far from being a harmless token of affection, the heart belongs to a pagan holiday that is a product of Babylon, and God's people are told to come out of her (Revelation 18:4).

The arrowed heart is part of the pagan Valentine's festival, not a Christian emblem. It belongs with Cupid, the naked, winged son of Venus, who carries a bow and arrow and shoots his victims in the heart. Roman mythology gave Venus, goddess of sexual love, and her son the power to instill passion with a love potion and to make love cease. Cupids and arrowed hearts still appear on Valentine cards and in theater décor. When the Roman church renamed Lupercalia as St. Valentine's Day, the saints and Christianity never became a major part of the festival. After the Protestants set the saints aside, people went back to drawing lots for partners, and Cupid and the arrowed hearts stayed. The day remained the original Roman day, as popular and pagan as ever. The heart symbol therefore stands for lust and sexual passion, not for God's way of love. God warned against mixing pagan customs with His worship (Deuteronomy 12:29-31), and Paul likens such mixing to fellowship with demons (I Corinthians 10:19-21). Christians are to speak the truth in love, not lust, and to worship the Father in spirit and truth, not in flesh and lust.

In Matthew 6, within the context of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses the term "heart" metaphorically to describe what drives us as unique individuals. It does not refer to the physical organ that pumps blood but to the core of our decision-making processes. The heart encompasses the dynamic forces shaped by our life experiences, including intellect, memories, feelings, desires, fears, emotional makeup, understanding, habits, will, and age, all of which combine to make each person distinct. Jesus teaches that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also, indicating that the heart determines the value we place on things and guides our actions accordingly. Jesus further explains that the natural human heart, if left to its own devices, is inclined toward self-centeredness due to inherent carnality, often leading to evil and destruction. Such a heart is described as uncircumcised, existing within a person without its harmful tendencies being removed. In contrast, God is also depicted as having a heart, though He is a spirit being without a physical organ. In Hosea, God expresses turmoil in His heart regarding the punishment of northern Israel for their rebellion. Despite His anger, His heart leads Him to refrain from complete destruction, showing a sympathetic understanding while still enforcing severe punishment. This reveals the depth of God's emotional engagement with His people, guided by a heart that is not driven by evil but by compassion and purpose.