Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Most men practically underrate the influence of the heart, compared with that of the head, on success and happiness. Reason, the intellect, the head and not the heart, is usually regarded as man's dignity. But it is his reason as manifested in his active and moral powers. Knowledge is not power — personal power — but only one of its instruments. The power is not in the knowledge, but in the moral qualities or passions which accompany it, which lie behind it, constituting what is called "force of character." The essence of greatness, always and everywhere, is a great spirit. If we aspire not only to be great, but to be truly happy, the heart is not only the principal thing, it is almost everything. What is happiness but the sum total of the gratifications of a man's affections and desires? The heart has more to do than the head in determining the distinctions of character. A man's real character depends, not on his outward actions, but on the principles from which he acts — those principles which are real springs of action. All the distinctions of character resolve themselves at last into distinctions of disposition and temper, and not of intellect or understanding. In everything pertaining to human greatness and human happiness, to moral and Christian character, to final salvation, the heart is more than the head. The heart is the principal thing. Out of that, and that alone, are the issues of life. (James Walker.) Parallel Verses KJV: Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.WEB: Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life. |
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