When My Heart Burns

Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us…?

Luke 23:32

“Mommie, my heart hurts. I think it’s Jesus kicking it because He wants in!” my granddaughter announced on the way to school. Did she feel preschool anxiety or had God created an opportunity for a spiritual conversation?

When a friend and I recently searched for a word to describe a stirring of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, I remembered an archaic phrase, the unction of the Holy Spirit. Today we use other expressions in an attempt to capture the experience—prompted, called, moved, touched, heard His voice, or felt His presence.

I noticed a phrase in the biblical account of two individuals walking home to a village named Emmaus after Jesus' crucifixion. The resurrected Jesus joined them and explained the Scriptures to them. Afterwards, as they reflected upon the experience, they exclaimed, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us?” I liked that description—a burning in my heart.

Jesus used the same word for burning, kaio, when describing John the Baptist’s life as “a lamp that burned and gave light…” (John 5:35). Jesus also used it when He taught “Be dressed and ready for service and keep your lamps burning...” (Luke 12:35).

With time, my granddaughter accepted Christ as her Savior. She knew with certainty that Jesus was speaking to her heart. l plan to ask if she remembers the experience of her heart hurting on the way to school. I hope that introducing her to the Greek work for burning, “kaio,” will increase her sensitivity for when Jesus speaks and her heart burns with His prompting as she continues to grow in Him!

Father, thank You that we can know when You speak to our hearts. Keep us sensitive to all the ways You lead as well as when we must walk in faith rather than feelings. Thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to be with us every moment. Keep us alert to His promptings, whether subtle or burning, then empower us to respond with faith. In Your Son’s name we pray, Amen.

Linda Lesniewski