Change Your Heart Change Your Life Part 2

More from Dr Smalley's book, Change Your Heart Change Your Life.

The janitor has the same worth as the CEO. The busboy has the same worth as the restaurant owner. The checker at Wal-Mart has the same worth as the president of Wal-Mart. And that value resides in the fact that we are created and beloved by he sumpreme Master and Controller of the universe. p. 19

Every time we show love to another person, we show love to God Himself. He loves all of us so much and identifies with our needs so much that He makes no distinction between loving our fellow humans and loving Him. p. 120

C.S. Lewis understood the high value of loving others and the value God places on them. He reminded us of the potential for eternal glory in heaven that each person bears when he wrote:

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked with a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations-these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendors... Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. p.120

Most humans have enough love for at least one unlovable person whose life is filled with terrible deeds, attitudes, thoughts, and flaws that would make an angel blush. Who is that person? It's the one whose face you adore every morning in the mirror. p. 121

Let me tell you how I have learned to love my enemies. I force myself to think not of what my enemy has done to me but rather to think of what he is created to be. He is created with what Lewis called a tremendous "weight of glory" as a being made in the image of God and capable of becoming like Him. p. 125

When the relationship between parent and child is right, this transfer of beliefs and values happens naturally, by the process of osmosis, with love as the catalyst. p. 193

Love [crave after, to know deeply] the LORD [your King] your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6: 5-7) p. 193

Yet there are many ways for you to find time to memorize and chew on scriptures, even in your crazy schedule. Here are just a few:

1. Havig a quiet time.
2. Attending your Bible-believing church regularly.
3. Listening to Christian radio or watching Christian TV.
4. Learning and singing Christian songs.
5. Placing reminders printed on cards or pictures on the wall of your residence.
6. Excercising, hiking, and visiting your favorite place to meditate. pp. 216-217

This is a great book, especially for men.

Change Your Heart Change Your Life Part 1

The current book I am reading, Change Your Heart Change Your Life, by Gary Smalley is filled with wisdom. I have just a few quotes below to wet your appetite.

One of the most powerful truths to come out of my discovery is that no one can make you unhappy. p. 6

Nothing and no one can take away your happiness or joy unless you hand it that job over to others or to your circumstances. To find enduring joy and peace, you must learn to recognize and accept the reality that your Designer created the best beliefs for you to store in your own heart, and those beliefs determine your level of happiness. I can see now why King Solomon warned all of us, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" (Proverbs 4:23). p. 6

When anyone corrects my driving, I know that God wants me to learn how to be in deeper submission to Him. p. 20

Dr. William Backus says that "you feel the way you think; you think the way you believe. Beliefs are the primary source of your attitudes, reactions, feelings, and behavior. Isn't that just about everything you are?" p. 21

Our reactions are not caused by what happens to us; they are caused by our beliefs. p. 24

What you think about all day long, over long periods, eventually seeps into your heart as a belief. p. 7

God has already answered the question about what beliefs to store within our hearts. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." This belief will accomplish more in your life than any other belief I know. p. 7

Your consistent thoughts become your beliefs, and your beliefs control everything about you. p. 28

. . . chewing on powerful, selected Bible verses day after day throws out your old destructive beliefs and leaves you more empowered to manage your own life and be happier and more satisfied than you ever imagined. p. 31

. . . die daily. p. 37

That's what it means to surrender. In other words, you die to life as you want it or as the world advises you to live, and live only by what God says in His Word. p. 37

The point is, by meditating, ruminating, chewing, and eating your verses on a regular basis, you are making them a part of you. You are making God's way of doing things the real beliefs of your heart from which all your thoughts and actions will spring. p. 62

When you have God at the center of your life, whatever else you gain in material goods is simply overflow. p. 74

CS Lewis points out this famous passage: I think that many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one or two sins that were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel (though we do not put it into words) that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted Him to do, and we should be obliged if He would leave us alone. But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us . . . Image yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on. You knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage, but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. pp. 114-115

I am almost half through the book. I may share more later.

To order a copy click here!