THE FIXED HEART

There is a story involving Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. The teams were playing in the World Series, and as usual Yogi was keeping up his ceaseless chatter, intended to pep up his teammates on the one hand, and distract the Milwaukee batters on the other. As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, "Henry, you're holding the bat wrong. You're supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark." Aaron didn't say anything, but when the next pitch came he hit it into the left-field bleachers. After rounding the bases and tagging up at home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, "I didn't come up here to read."

“O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory” (Psalm 108:1). The KJV reads “my heart is fixed.” Among the definitions given for fixed by Webster is “definite; not fluctuating or varying: a fixed purpose.” The psalmist’s mind is made up; moving forward, no turning back. When success smiles and when failure frowns; when friends stand by and when they betray; when you are praised and when you are condemned, remain steadfast and fixed. The fixed heart does not depend on outward circumstances but on an inward state.

Without a fixed heart, a set purpose, we are simply drifting through life. One store had a sign on the door, "Gone out of business. Didn't know what our business was." A sad statement for a business, but sadder still for a Christian or a church. There is a Latin proverb which states, “When a man does not know what harbor he is making far, no wind is right.” We need to know what our business is, where we are headed.

Solomon writes, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). That gives us a purpose. Paul had this to say in Philippians 3:12-14: “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” We need to be, as Jesus said to his parents in Jerusalem at the age of 12, “about my (our) Father’s business.”

The fixed heart requires commitment. There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results. Caidyn has picked up a new phrase. When told to do something she likes to say “I can’t,” which really means I won’t. How often are you asked to do something in the church and respond with “I can’t?” Is it really that you are unable to do it, or that you choose not to do it. Also, you must realize you are not saying “I can’t (or won’t)” to the elder, deacon, preacher, or whoever is asking you, you are saying it to Christ.

Is your heart fixed?
--Lamar