What's the Attitude of Your Heart?

There are various Scriptures in the Bible about the attitude of your heart. In Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God". In 1 Samuel 16:7 "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height for I have rejected him'. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." And in Acts 13:22, "After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: 'I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, he will do everything I want him to do.'"

How do these Scriptures apply to us? In my opinion, it is important to reflect on the attitude of our hearts. What is our motivation at the root level? In the past, I tended to want to be controlling, so sometimes the attitude of my heart was to manipulate others for my purposes. I have come to learn that manipulation is not loving, consequently, it is not God's way. On occasion, during my marriage, if I was getting a little off track, my husband would ask me to reflect on the attitude of my heart. When I did, I would realize that I needed to adjust my thinking about something so that my feelings and behavior about it would change and then the attitude of my heart would be aligned to God's desire for the situation.

Another component to being a person after God's own heart is obedience. To be open and teachable to allow God to work within us. As we learn more about God and what He wants to do in our lives, we become more open to be obedient to do His will. For example, in Mark 12: 28-31, Jesus tells us what is most important. "...of all the commandments, which is the most important? The most important one answered Jesus is this...Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these."

Then, lest we love according to our own understanding, in 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8, we are given the specifics of what God's love looks like so that we can emulate that in our own lives. "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

In reflecting on the contents of this post, how is the attitude of your heart? I encourage all of us to think about the attitudes of our hearts and if anything needs to change, to ask the Lord to help. He will.

God's Got a Fix For You

I had a friend who had a saying that always brought a smile to my face every time I heard her say it. Her name was Edna Weaver. She was a pastor and she was filled with God's joy. She always wanted to encourage others by letting them know that no matter how long it takes, God has a plan for you that is for good and He will see it come to pass. Here's her quote:

"God will fix a fix for you, and if you don't get fixed by the fix He fixed for you, He will fix another fix to fix you."

As I am writing this, I am reminded that although God wants the best for us, it is up to us to cooperate with His plan for us. He wants to fulfill His plan for our lives, but since we have free will, He can only fulfill His plan when we allow Him to.

What does that mean? In my opinion, when we try to do things our way, according to our understanding, we can only go so far. Sometimes, with some people, a lot can be accomplished, but it is not God's best for us. When we seek Him and do our best to understand His ways and how He wants us to live, we will fare much better.

I used to think that I knew best for myself and everyone else in my life. What I have come to realize is that, since I don't know all circumstances that are involved with others and what my future might hold, I am much better off trusting that God is God and He knows best. Consequently, I have chosen to do my best to seek the Lord in all that I do and trust that He is working on me and those for whom I pray to bring about His best in each of our lives.

A couple of the benefits of doing things God's way are peace and a lack of stress. Jesus said in Matthew 11:29-30, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

So I would encourage all of us to seek the Lord, allow Him to "fix a fix" for us, and rest in His peace.

INTEGRITY

Several years ago, I was thinking about how God would want us to live. I know that we are to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, but what is one way that we can walk that out in our daily lives? Then I thought that one way would be to live a life of integrity. Then I wondered what that would look like in my life. I came up with an acronym that represents my thoughts about the characteristics that a person of integrity would have. Below are my ideas.

INTEGRITY

Interested in the well being of others

Nice, kind, generous

Trustworthy - having earned the trust of others

Esteem - to be well thought of, to have a good reputation

Genuine - not characterized by deception or fraud

Respectable - of or appropriate to good or proper behavior; having an acceptable appearance

Internalize the qualities of positive attitude, responsibility, courage, positive communication, self- respect, respect for others, love, commitment, and honesty

Truthful - to be honest, a person who keeps his/her word

Yearnings to make the most of myself while helping others do the same by internalizing and applying all the above mentioned traits

How about you? Has God encouraged you to walk your best life out in certain ways? If you would like to share, please scroll down and enter your comments.