Christians for centuries have found comfort and benediction in the words of St. Paul in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians (3:5), "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ."
A Christian Scientist once found in these words something more than comfort and benediction. They gave impulse to the prayerful work which he was called upon to do to overcome an alarming verdict of heart irregularity. They led to a careful study of the nature of "heart" as revealed in the Scriptures and in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. A permanent healing was the result.
The heart is often used as a symbol of deep human yearning and desire, the seat, so to speak, of those impulses, emotions, and motives which are manifested either as human good or evil. Jesus thus described it to his disciples (Luke 6:45): "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." Mrs. Eddy defines "heart" as "mortal feelings, motives, affections, joys, and sorrows" (Science and Health, p. 587). Mortal implies that which is fleeting, changeable, devoid of spiritual insight. But all through her writings, Mrs. Eddy indicates that we can be and are purified of the mortal and lifted into the spiritual in the degree that our hearts are directed "into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ."
