Description
The Bible describes “the heart” as referring to the whole person. It stands in Scripture for our entire mental and moral activity, rational, emotional and volitional.
This is why we are told in Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else guard your heart for from it flows the issues of life,” and in Proverbs 27:19, “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” The heart defines who we are and influences everything we do.
The heart is the master control area of our life. What rules there shapes our thoughts, forms our attitudes and determines our actions. The religious fanatic who blows themself up believes passionately that the moment they detonate the bomb they will be instantly in paradise while those they murder and maim will be sent to hell. Their hearts have become captured and perverted by evil and evil is what they are and what they do.
Whatever we open our hearts to has the power to affect us and the more our heart is captured the more our life is influenced and controlled. Take sport for example. I enjoy most sports but for some it rules their life and that which has the potential to bring joy also has the power to dominate and destroy. A Glasgow taxi driver once described to me the elation he and his mates experienced when Celtic beat Rangers at football and the utter devastation they felt if they lost. Life would not be right until the next game and defeat could be avenged. The passions aroused by these football matches hit the headlines when after one particularly acrimonious and violent match between the teams Les Gray, the Scottish Police Federation chief, said enough was enough, and called for the fixture to be banned. His anger and that of others was directed not so much at what happened on the pitch, but what he called the “murder and mayhem” off it. After the games, disorder is endemic, violence inevitable, murders frequent. Even policing the matches is tantamount to a military operation and that’s not considering the violence in pubs or the homes of those watching. After “Old Firm” matches as they are called, reports of domestic violence rise by 70 per cent as losers take it out on their spouses and partners.
It’s not only sport but politics, science, religion and every other aspect of life that is loved or hated, worshipped or abhorred through the prism of our heart.
In this new book I have developed more fully some of the themes I wrote about in my previous books, The Captured Heart and The Burning Heart. There is also a great deal of new material on what I believe are some of the most important issues that we have to deal with in our lives.
At the heart of the issues are the issues of the heart.
Issues of the Heart is both enlightening and empowering. It will give you insights and understanding to help you become all God wants you to be.
“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7