I have learned that keeping my heart properly positioned, keeps my whole life in a good place.
We know that it’s possible for our hearts to become divided, deceitful, and disobedient to God … and as a result, bring us much trouble.
All of us know the agony that these things create in our lives.
Equally, we know that our hearts can be fully surrendered to God, literally captured by Him … which leads us to life … extravagant, everlasting, and eternal life.
Gloriously, we also know the joy and the thrill of receiving all of these things.
The truth is …
Whatever Captures The Heart … Consumes One’s Entire Being!
In his book, The Captured Heart: Guarding Your Heart In a World of Compromise David Holdaway speaks specifically to this when he writes, “The Bible uses the word ‘heart’ as the most comprehensive term with which to refer to the ‘whole person’. It includes our affections, our emotions, at times our mind, and much more. The heart is the master control center of life. It is the fount out of which everything else comes and is why the Bible often describes the heart as the source of all our troubles. In essence, whatever you open your heart to has the power to bless or curse you.
All of this is so clearly spoken and I am deeply impacted by the last sentence … “whatever you open your heart to has the power to bless or curse you.
The choices we make, the care that we take … all impact the position of our hearts.
Every response and reaction … has its impact. There simply are no casual choices … each one is critical and deserves, if not demands, our complete attention.
Whatever Captures The Heart … Consumes One’s Entire Being!
This is the reality that we want to acknowledge and accept. We want to assure that our hearts are captured … literally carried away by God and His Word.
When our hearts are captured in this way they will …
▪ Control our life rhythms and routines
▪ Captivate our thinking and self-talk
▪ Center everything into that one thing that we have determined to pursue
▪ Constrain our responses and reactions
More than ever before, we do need to heed the words of wisdom found for us in Proverbs 4.
My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil (Proverbs 4:20-27)
These are words of life … with the power to protect, preserve, and promote … life in us, as God intended it to be.
Whatever Captures The Heart … Consumes One’s Entire Being!
So it is … and so it shall always be!
May we align ourselves to this unchangeable reality and give ourselves to it with unending devotion.
I know I am in … and that you need to be in too!
Saying yes,
-Terry-