I was sitting in McDonalds the other day when I noticed a sign on the adjoining gas station that said, ” Start with the inside”.Now, I’m not sure what all that meant, but it reminded me of Proverbs 4:23 “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
Man has it all backwards. He keeps trying to fix his problems from the outside and it never works. He deals with the fruit of the problem rather than the root. If you’re going to get to the heart of the problem you have to get to the heart—“out of it are the issues of life.”
Even believers are often guilty of making this mistake. They try to solve their problems without ever dealing with the main issue. They try to mend their relationships without getting their heart right with God. Naturally they keep failing. We are not going to be right with others or at peace with ourselves until we are right with God.
There’s an old song that says, “Is thy heart right with God?” That’s a good question. Whether it is solving problems or preventing them, we must “start with the inside”. Until we do that we are majoring on minors.
