It Takes ‘Heart’

Recently I watched a street performance with some island girls dancing. Their hands were waving and their hips were swaying, but when you looked at their faces, there were no smiles and you realised their hearts weren’t in it!

A lot of people are like that—just going through the motions. Don’t be one of them! If you want your life to count, find a cause greater than yourself and give your all to it! Remember Nehemiah? He risked life and limb in order to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Even though faced with threats and obstacles, he finished the job in record time. How did it happen? Because ‘the people had a heart and mind to work’. Their heart was in the job—unlike those dancing girls.

An 1828 copy of Webster’s Dictionary defines ‘courage’ as ‘that quality which enables us to face difficulty and danger…without fear or depression’. Then Webster adds the words of Moses as he transferred leadership of the nation to Joshua. ‘Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid…for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’ (Joshua 1:9 NKJV)

At age 120, Moses was basically still telling the people of Israel, ‘Ya gotta have heart!’ Why? Because anything worth having is worth fighting for! It takes ‘heart’ to deal with a child’s wilful defiance, or face your own fears, or pick up the pieces of your life and start over. It’s easy to talk about what’s wrong, but it takes ‘heart’ to do something about it.

And where does that kind of courage come from? God! So talk to Him today.