It’s the one phrase that affords malicious free reign to anyone who is generally well-mannered or has a sweet demeanor.  When thinking of the typical Southern Gothic figure (most any Flannery O’Connor character will do), the typical slanderous, denigrating remark is prefaced or followed by “Bless his heart.”  It is such a curious interjection.  Blessing another’s heart suggests an intense desire for a solemnity or emotional resolve, despite the fact that the speaker might think the subject is a blockhead.   Really, just say it aloud: “Bless his heart, but he’s just a negative shy of the full picture.”  Doesn’t it sound a little less harsh, somewhat tolerant?  I want to point out the example Paul sets in Acts 14 which takes this phrase to a new level.

God has sent for Barnabas and Paul, instructing them to go and spread the gospel.  As the two are in Lystra, a rural town populated by what is likely a relatively uneducated people, Paul speaks to a man who is lame from birth.  Paul heals him as he commands him to stand and walk.  The Lycaonians are floored and begin worshipping Paul and Barnabas, calling them Hermes and Zeus and bringing forward animal sacrifices.

At this point, Barnabas and Paul could just say, “They just don’t understand, bless their hearts.  This is not by our power, but they just don’t get it” and move on to another audience or faintly try to explain the error of the Lycaonian thinking.  Instead, with the full desire for the peoples’ hearts be blessed, Paul and Barnabas tear their clothes and cry out against the false worship.  The tearing of clothes was a sign of utter grievance, Paul and Barnabas’s central disturbance with the disposition of the hearts of the Lycaonians.   

I am particularly convicted by this passage.  I come in close contact with dozens of people daily with whom I have the opportunity to share the gospel and should do so as passionately as Paul and Barnabas do.  When I observe these people following false gods, not only do I not tear my clothes, but I turn a blind eye and a cold heart upon them.  In fact, if they are worshipping me in some form or fashion (as they do in this passage), I am sure to make my clothes look very nice and encourage the worship. 

Yet these apostles have a fundamentally different understanding of those to whom they minister.  Paul and Barnabas understand the implications of unbelief.  They long to the point of great grief for others to know Christ and his work on our behalf.  Paul and Barnabas look to God and truly desire it when they plea “Lord, bless their hearts.”