heart Archives -

I’m at Catalyst Conference this week, and I’ll be blogging what I feel are some of the most important sessions.

In this lab session, Michael Hyatt spoke on the importance of the leader’s heart.

On a retreat in college, Michael’s pastor said this:

Based on my experience, by the time you are 55 years old, 10% of you will act like you never knew Jesus at all. 70% of you will be compromised. 20% of you will still be following Christ, and if you want to be a part of that 20%, you have to make a commitment to be in it for the long haul.

This had a profound impact on his life.

What happens to the 80% that don’t make it? Those people lose heart in some way.

This truth is particularly important for leaders.

You will maximize your influence as a leader when you embrace 5 truths about the heart.

5 Truths About Your Heart

1. Your heart is the essence of your identity.

This is particularly important to grasp in a world of social media, where the image triumphs the reality. Don’t lose yourself in your image! The Bible uses the word, “heart” over 1,000 times. Matthew 5:8. Matthew 6:23. Matthew 15:18. Matthew 22:37.

Today, you are you. That is truer than true. There is none alive that is you-ier than you. – Dr. Seuss

The essence of who you are is your heart. It’s where your dreams, hopes, fears, love, and disappointment live in this sanctuary. But the world’s focus is too often on the external image.

In 1 Samuel 16.7, we see that the Lord looks at the heart, because that’s what matters most.

A question that John Eldredge asked rocked Michael’s world:

How is your heart?

2. Your heart is the most valuable leadership tool you have.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” It doesn’t say, “If you can squeeze ‘guarding your heart’ into your to-do list…” Your heart is the wellspring of life!

We often think that leadership is about your knowledge, experience, or skills. But it’s about your heart…because it’s the wellspring of life.

A few things about springs:

If you stop up a spring, it stops flowing.
If you pollute a spring, then what comes out is toxic.

The same is true for your heart.

3. Your heart directly impacts your influence.

Physically, your heart keeps you alive. Your body can’t survive without this vital organ.

Hyatt was brought to the hospital and treated for pneumonia, but 4 days later, he was rushed back to the hospital because of a ruptured gall bladder. But he has found out that, as important as it is, he’s really okay without a gall bladder. But if you lose your heart, you’re dead.

This is also true in a spiritual sense. Your heart is what keeps your organization alive. As a leader, you pump personality into every person and project you meet. Your organization can survive without your skills and knowledge, but it can’t survive without your heart. Your heart is the greatest gift you bring to your organization.

4. Your heart is either healthy or unhealthy

Cardiovascular disease happens in our bodies when arteries harden and blood flow is constricted. Cardiovascular disease is the quiet killer.

Spiritually, it is as well. It takes leaders out when they don’t even know it. And the truth is this: your heart is either open or closed.

When your heart is closed, it looks like this:

distant, aloof, lost in your own problems, can’t connect with people, communication shuts down, leave people on your team to fend for themselves, and people feel oppressed as life and possibility dries up.

But when your heart is open, it looks like this:

When you’re a leader with an open heart, you’re fully present and accessible. You’re focused on others, you connect to people, communication is wide open, you’re a resource to your people, you may focus on what is missing but you don’t focus on what’s wrong (be careul…it’ll suck the life out of your team), people feel free, you’re pumping life and possibility into the organization.

It matters if your heart is open or closed.

5. Your heart is under constant attack.

Satan’s primary objective is to take you out and render you ineffective for God. We do have an enemy, and he takes us out at the level of the heart. We can allow disappointment, disillusionments, and failures to steal our heart if we don’t guard it.

You’re never too old to do something stupid. Don’t ever give up!

Proverbs 4:23 encourages us to guard our hearts. Because there’s something valuable and precious there that needs to be guarded.

Satan is particularly adept at taking out the hearts of Christian leaders. Because he knows that if he takse you out he can take many others out with you. People are watching and hoping that you’re going to make it.

Having close friends is a key to keeping your heart alive, especially considering that pastor burnout is such a massive problem.

The heart is like a drawbridge. Sometimes it needs to be drawn up. But other times it needs to be let down and let others in.

We’re called to love and lead from our heart.

Should Christians ban Facebook?

In a recent article on Gospel Today, it was reported that Rev Cedric Miller of Living World Christian Fellowship in Neptune, NJ, told all of his married staff members that they needed to cancel their Facebook accounts or resign their position. He counsels couples, and has seen a number of them reconnect with old love interests through Facebook. He wants to protect his congregation, which explains why he made the move to put people’s jobs on the line if they didn’t cancel their Facebook account.

Is that the right thing to do?

I don’t know.

But I do know that limiting somebody’s freedoms is dangerous business*. When you begin forcing people to do something that the Bible doesn’t force them to do, you’re on dangerous ground (example: “If you’re going to honor God, you have to homeschool your children). When you begin forcing people to not do something that the Bible doesn’t say not to do, you’re on dangerous ground (example: “Watching R-rated movies is not an option for a follower of Christ.”). Instead of banning it, I think a healthy look at marriages, and the dangers that exist in a fallen world (including those in social media), would be wiser. Otherwise, you will find yourself on a perpetual rat race, looking for that ‘thing’ that leads your congregation astray. Maybe it’s Facebook this month. Maybe it’s a movie next month. Maybe it’s candy the next month. (see 1 Corinthians 4:5-6) Instead of holding the candy (or Facebook) responsible for sin, I think there’s something else at work.

Jesus said, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45) Our actions show what we’ve stored up in our hearts. Our actions show what we’ve been dwelling on, and what has captured our attention. Our actions show what we believe to be best for our lives.

Banning Facebook is like taking Tylenol every single day for a headache. Yes, it might work…for a little while. But at some point, you’ve got to look into why you have a headache every day. If you take care of the why, the what will take care of itself. Instead of banning Facebook, look at why the heart is chasing after these things, and why they’re seeking fulfillment in someone other than their spouse. Who/what are they loving more than God?

Maybe you need to cancel your Facebook account. But before you do, check your heart.

And please don’t force everyone else to cancel theirs.

Have you ever been a part of a church that placed unBiblical standards on you?

Have you ever placed unBiblical standards on someone else?

* Though I quickly acknowledge that exercising personal discipline, even where the Bible is not explicit, can be wise.

Tag: heart

Michael Hyatt, Catalyst 2011

5 Truths About Your Heart

Should Christians ban Facebook?

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