HEART

Keep your HEART with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life – Proverbs 4:23

The HEART is the control centre for your attitude. Your acknowledgement, appreciation, and understanding of this truth will help you to develop attitudes that enhance the Maximised Life – living life to its fullest – which God designed you for. God wants you to keep, guard, and protect your heart from the contamination of sin and the corruption of the world. Attitude is essentially an inside affair. Your attitude produces an outward reflection of what resides on the inside. Therefore, to change your attitude, you must change your heart. It has been said that a person cannot travel within and stand still without, or vice versa! Similar to how the rocks that lie beneath the water’s surface determine whether a river runs clear or rough, what lies inside of your heart determines the attitude you present to the world.

As you take heed to your attitude, you will navigate life’s course more efficiently. Your attitude is like the engine that runs a car. The more finely tuned that engine is, the more smoothly the car will run. The same is true with life. If you keep your attitude tuned-up, in top condition, then you will see so much about your life blossom and flourish. Your attitude determines to a great extent the quality of your life and how far you will go. In all things, your heart’s condition creates the appeal of your personality. Your attitudes shape your character, which then defines your destiny. The consistent injunction of scriptures is therefore to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and make this your first priority in life (Mt.6:33). You are to serve God “not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the HEART” (Eph.6:6).

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life (Pro.4:23, NLT). Notice that it doesn't say somebody else will guard your heart or that your pastor or even God will guard your heart. You're in charge of guarding your own heart. If you allow the wrong things to enter unchecked into your heart, they will become deeply rooted and harder to deal with. The quicker you can detect a wrong heart condition and get it straightened out, the better off you are. Your real life is the life that's within you. There's nothing more important than your inner life – what's in your heart (1 Pet.3:3-4). Life is not your circumstances, the kind of house you live in, and the class of job you hold or how much money you have. Some people have the best of these things and are still miserable. Others live in the harshest of circumstances but display amazing joy.

Your heart's condition depends on the things you allow into and retain in it. These things form your thoughts and attitudes, and ultimately, shape the deepest part of your being. The wise man was taught: “Let your HEART retain my words; keep my commands, and live” (Pro.4:4). No matter what your circumstances (the outside) are, if your heart (the inside) is right, your life will be right. No matter how old you are, what your position, status or situation is in life, your gender, or your marital status, a positive attitude can make an incredible difference to your life’s journey, and it all begins from within – from your heart. It’s probably easier to remember how recently you checked the oil in your car’s engine and the air pressure in its tyres, than the last time you undertook an attitudinal assessment of your heart. This is the time and season to revisit the condition and state of your heart and readjust your attitudes accordingly, for Top Performance in life and destiny.