Heart Check

August 1st, 2010

“For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (NIV).

Throughout my career as a businessman and also as an athlete I often found myself using the phrase “gut check” when things were getting a little difficult.  Gut check means taking a quick moment to step back and see if there is still enough in the tank (mentally and physically) in order to continue to fight for a victory.  Whether or not there is enough left depends on how much time and energy was spent preparing the gut for the day of battle.   

Many years ago I was given the definition of “luck” by one of my basketball coaches and he said “luck is when peparation meets opportunity.”  Webster’s defines luck “to prosper or succeed esp. through chance or good fortune.  In essence we have the ability to to determine whether or not we experience luck because it is based on how much time we spend preparing for whatever it is we are doing.  John Wooden always said “the harder I work, the luckier I get.”

Although I never seemed to have a problem working hard and developing my own “luck” in my athletic career, it took me some time to have “luck” and prosper and succeed with life and having luck with life simply means being able to handle life on life’s terms.  For many years I tried to make life adapt to my terms…can you say frustration?

Handling life on life’s terms means handling the demands of reality without compromising our integrity. It means we do not need to manipulate ourselves or others in order to handle life.  In essence, as Christians we succeed and prosper with life (i.e. have luck) when we are able to have peace and joy no matter what the circumstance.   

Luke  12:14 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.”  (NIV)

Just like preparing for an athletic event, preparation for handling life on life’s terms and experiencing luck, i.e. peace and joy no matter what the circumstance, involves daily work and the work needs to be focused on our heart as we can deduce from the scriptures above.  

Preparing our heart means we need to surrender our will to God early and often throughout the day and ask Him to enter our heart so that our thoughts, words and deeds will be His.  This is done through prayer.  We need to couple prayer with the action of studying and reading His word on a daily basis and allowing it to penetrate our hearts and in turn permeate into our actions.  The scripture in Hebrews at the start of this message tells us scripture is living and active and penetrates through all parts of our body right to the heart. 

Prayer is great and is powerful and much needed but God’s word is living and maximized in our lives ONLY if we read and study it.  And if we don’t…when trying to handle life on life’s terms our “heart check” will create a response based on our treasures (i.e. what is most important to us) and having luck (i.e. joy and peace) will, most likely, continue to escape us.    

Do a “heart check” and ask yourself whether or not you are spending enough time receiving God’s guidance through conversing with Him in his word.  If your daily frustrations with the world exceeds your daily joy…then you need to work a little harder on your heart.  Or let me put it another way; if your peace and joy is dependent upon the world (other people, places and things) doing what you need it to do…then you need to work a little harder on your heart.

P.E.A.C.E.

Philippians 4:12-13 “…I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” (NIV)

Jay@EagleLaunch.com   My new website should go live sometime this week.