(Mis)Understanding Cliches Part 3

Cliche #3: “Ask Jesus into your heart”

Try to imagine what it would be like to being standing in front of the apostle Peter as he explains what just happened at the day of Pentecost. Peter gives a great explaination and then you ask him, “what must I do to be saved?” And Peter responds, “ask Jesus into your heart”.

Now, Peter didn’t respond this way but what if he had? I am not sure of the origin of this cliche but the longer I think about it, the less I get it. In western society, the heart is the seat of the emotions. The old testament writers would call this seat of the emotions the bowels. Now that could ruin a lot of good love songs! But what is the biblical response to Christ? Is it to ask Jesus into our hearts?

This always confused me as a child. I really thought that Jesus would come and live in my heart, the blood-pumping organ. I was quite a bit older before I realized that such a thing is silly. I even thought that if someone had a heart transplant that they would have to ask Jesus into their new heart. Why would I think like that? Any kid with half a brain would know that Jesus doesn’t physically take up residence in your organs. As silly as that sounds, it is only the reaction to a less-than-clear cliche. In reality, my conclusion to that statement is no more absurd than the statement itself. Jesus and the apostles never responded with “ask Jesus into your heart”. It was always, in some form or fashion, “repent and believe the gospel”.

I must admit, I struggled for a long time with this phrase. I can remember telling people that in order to be saved they must “ask Jesus into their heart” all the while thinking “whatever that means…”. I think we need to start using biblical language if we are going to get the gospel right. Every culture can understand repentance and faith. It just takes some explaining and it may take time. Cliches seem to be ways of shortening the gospel. But they do not just shorten it, they rob it of it’s truth.