What Kind of Heart Do You Have?

Have you ever thought about the fact your body is designed with almost everything in sets or pairs? Think about it for a minute. You have two eyes, you have two ears, your nose has two nostrils, you have two arms, two hands, two legs, two feet, you have two kidneys. Even things inside of your body, a lot of them are in pairs. But there's one thing, and it's the most important organ in your entire body. And you only have one of those. And it's called your heart. Today I want to check in with you to see what kind of heart you have.

Welcome to becoming wiser with Dr. Robert A. Rohm, author and world renowned public speaker, as he shares stories involving his experiences and lessons learned in a good, spirited, positive and fun way. Here's Dr. Robert A. Rohm.

Hi, I'm Dr. Robert Rohm and today we're going to talk about your heart. I have discovered that your heart is a vital organ in your body because you only have one of them. Sometimes our lungs that come in different lobes or our kidneys that we have a pair of or different things that are, they make up our body like our arms or our hands or our legs, we can, we can live without one of them. I'm not suggesting this is a good idea, but boy, when your heart fails, when your heart stops, that's the end of the program, that's the end of the show because you only have one heart. I've discovered that your physical heart is very important, but I believe it's sort of like an object lesson to teach us what kind of heart we should have. So I'm going to share with you. I believe there are four basic different kinds of hearts I want to ask you to think about as we go through this and ask yourself what kind of heart you have. And they, they're going to go from bad or worse to good or better. You'll see how this works as we go along. First kind of heart is what I would call an evil heart. Sometimes this is referred to as a hard heart. Oh, they're such a hard hearted person. You've heard people use that expression. An evil heart or a hard heart is someone who just does not have much care or sympathy or empathy for anyone else. They're pretty focused on themselves. Their attitude is not my problem. I don't have to worry about things that don't pertain to me. I care about myself first. I make sure that I look out for number one. We probably all have had a hard heart from time to time and it's not a great heart. To have. It's a heart that makes you focus only on yourself. And someone once said, anyone who's all wrapped up in themselves has a mighty small package. I hope that you and I do not have an evil or a hard heart. The second one is what I would call a prideful heart. Another word for this might be a self righteous heart. You know, I really am better than other people. I mean, you know, I'm smarter than others, I'm better looking than others. I really think that I am the kind of person that everybody wish they could be. I'm so in love with myself. It's called pride. It's called I'm focused on myself and I put myself first. I don't care about anyone else. I mean, every once in a while I'll give somebody a dollar. Or every once in a while I might see somebody in need and give them a sandwich or something. Maybe pat them on the head or let them know that, you know, I want to help you, I care about you. But really inside, boy, I'm glad I'm not you. I'm glad I'm me. We've all had that kind of heart, haven't we? From time to time where we focused on ourselves. We were full of ourselves. You've heard people saying, oh man, he's so full of himself. That's a prideful heart. It's a self righteous heart. I'm better than others, I'm smarter than others, I'm better looking than others.

That kind of heart paints you into a corner and pretty soon you find out you're there all by yourself. The third kind of heart is what I would call a skeptical heart. Another word for this might be indifferent. It's I just don't care. I mean, whatever is your deal is your deal. Whatever goes on in your life is your life. It's not my problem is your problem. I just, you know, I don't really think much about what someone else thinks about me or anything else for that matter. You're just very indifferent. Maybe even cold, skeptical. I don't know if there really is a God. I mean, I don't know. I haven't been everywhere there is to go. But if there is a God, what is that to me? I really don't care. I don't really care about anybody other than myself. And I read things from time to time and I hear about people having a wonderful encounter with something in nature or with another person or with an event or some miraculous situation that happens in their life. Well, good for them. Son of My business. I just carry on my life and focus on myself as being number one. And I really don't spend much time thinking about anybody else or their problems. And if they do tell me about something wonderful that happened, my attitude is, well, good for you, that's fine. And you sort of live with this attitude of indifference or skepticism. But then there's one other kind of heart. And by the way, I believe we've all had that kind of heart from time to time where we hear of someone's good fortune, instead of being happy for them, we might feel a little jealousy. Well, they didn't deserve that. I deserved that. And I'm. I don't even know why that happened to them. That should have happened for me. Well, that's just the nature of the way sometimes our heart plays out. But then there's the fourth heart. And this is the one I hope that you have and that I have. I call this a warm heart, a good heart, a soft heart. This is a tender heart. All these words are meaning the same kind of. It's a heart that's generous. It's a heart that cares about other people, about other situations, about the happiness in other people's lives. It's a helpful heart. It's one that can listen and can care and is good and is soft and tender. It's one you've heard people use these words, oh, they're so tender hearted. I don't mean you're a sucker, I don't mean you're a pushover, but you just have a good heart. You have a warm heart, you care and you genuinely, when people talk to you, you look at them in the eye and you make noises to let them know you're listening to them. Wow.

You have a good heart. You know, I think that all of us from time to time, whether it's a family member or with one of our friends or someone we meet, we demonstrate a warm heart or a good heart towards that person. That's a wonderful thing. I don't know what your situation is, but I would always pray for you and encourage you to have a warm, tender heart. Do you know what my prayer is for my four daughters and for my wife and for my six grandkids and for you. It's the same one. I pray for me, God. I pray that I would have a warm and tender heart towards you. You see, God loves the world. God cares about people. We should too. Having a warm and tender heart is important. Now I want to take this one step further and share with you how I live with a divided heart. You say, well, wait, wait, wait. That doesn't sound good. Hold on, I'm going to share with you. I learned this from a friend of mine in 1975. He's passed away now. He was one of my heroes, one of my mentors, Charlie Tremendous Jones. And Charlie said, you need to learn to live with a heart that operates all the time in two different directions at the same time. Boy, he had my attention. I was listening. What do you mean? He was older and wiser. He said, your heart has to stay divided and you have to live with that dichotomy. You have to live with that division. You have to learn that your heart is constantly. Has two different sides to it. Well, I said, please help me understand what you're talking about. He said, outwardly, your heart should be the most encouraging, happy, uplifting, edifying, heart that anyone has ever met. I mean, you have a happy heart. You have an encouraging heart. Hey, how you doing? Good to see you. Thanks so much. I really appreciate that. You have a grateful heart, a happy heart, an encouraging heart. That's your outward heart. That's your attitude that you communicate to other people. You care, you love, you listen. You're upbeat, positive. One of the my attitudes in life is I want to be the most positive, encouraging, enthusiastic person you've ever met. That's my outward heart. Buckle up. This is going to get tough. My inward heart is broken. I am a humble, broken person who has done a lot of things in my life. I regret. We sometimes refer to things that we've done wrong as sin. I don't know if you saw the movie the Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson. Something very interesting in that movie. Mel Gibson is actually in the movie. It's his hands that come in and nail the nail into the arms or the wrist of Jesus. There's a mallet in one hand and the nails in the other. Those are Mel Gibson's hands. Those are Mel Gibson's forearms that are nailing the nails into the wrist, into the hands of Jesus. Someone I saw the interview. They asked Mel Gibson, you. You never see his face. You only see his arms and hands as he's the one who nails Jesus to the cross. I saw him being interviewed. Someone said, why did you do that? Mel Gibson said, because I was the one that killed Jesus. The person interviewing him was stunned. They said, you killed Jesus. Mel Gibson said, yes, it was for my sins he died. When I saw that, I thought, that is so insightful that he realized when Jesus died, he was dying to make a payment for our sins. And Mel Gibson said it was my sins he was paying for. So I thought it would be appropriate that I drive the nails into his hands, into his wrist, because I was the one that killed him. Now, listen carefully. That's the same attitude I'm talking about right now. I realize I was the one that killed Jesus. As far as I'm concerned, inwardly, outward, I am a humble, broken, sinful person. And I'm so grateful that Jesus died in my place and I put my faith and trust in him. Now, I know you might say, well, I don't agree with all that. That's fine. You can believe whatever you want to. But I do think it's interesting. Someone said, asked me once, I was talking about this. They said, do you agree with everything Mel Gibson has done? I said, I don't even agree with everything I've done. So how can I agree with everything Mel Gibson said? I'm talking about a concept, an inward concept of brokenness, where outwardly, if I knew you, I would encourage you. I would be happy. I'd take you out to eat, I would be a blessing to you. And everything I said from my heart would be uplifting and positive and good and wholesome and encouraging. But inwardly, I'm so grateful. God, be merciful to me a sinner. God, work in my heart and my life. God, I pray you would make me the kind of person you want me to be. God, I pray somehow, another, that as I live my life day by day, that inwardly I would have an attitude of humility and brokenness and humbleness before you. Well, Charlie Jones taught me that. I understood it in my head, but it took me about 25 or 35 years to begin to make it reality in my life. And it's just something I live with. I live with that every day of my life. Outwardly, I'm encouraging and helpful and positive. I want to be that to you on this, on this podcast. But inwardly, I know I'm nothing. I'm no one special. I'm just like you. I get up every day, I live my life, and I try to be a good person and help others handle my money. I'm careful with my words. I don't want to say something evil or hurtful to another person. I want to be the most positive, encouraging, enthusiastic person you've ever met. But it comes from a base. It comes from a centeredness of humility and brokenness and realizing God, thank you for what you've done in my heart. Help me to Be a person of humility. Help me to be a person who cares about others. Help me not to seek myself above others, but help me to seek you and to be a kind, generous, loving person. In a word, in a nutshell. God, I pray that you would give me a warm, good, soft, tender heart. You see, those two things are very opposite. They're almost polar opposites. One sounds like enthusiastic and outgoing and excitement and confidence. I can do anything. And the other one is I am nobody. I'm nothing. I can't do anything. I can't even make my heart beat. I can't make my brain work. I can't create oxygen for me to breathe. I'm very dependent on my creator to help me and to guide me. So I have given you what I consider to be one of the wisest concepts I know. These podcasts are because a called becoming wiser for a reason. I ask God every day, give me your wisdom. Help me to learn how to do life and be successful. Now listen carefully. I'm outward right now. I love my life. I have no debt. I am financially free. I'm the happiest married person in the world. I have more friends than I know what to do with. My business is thriving and growing. I travel all over the world. I have tons of business, tons of friends, and tons of opportunity. And I want that for you. May I tell you something? The reason I think I have that is because I know I don't deserve anything. If I got what I deserved, I'd be in hell for all of eternity. But thank God for his grace, his forgiveness, and for Jesus, who paid all of that for me and then arose from the dead to prove he was the Son of God. I hope this podcast has been helpful. I hope you'll begin to ask yourself. It takes practice to learn how to do this. Outwardly, you're one way and inwardly you're the other way. However, they're not in competition with each other. They're not in contradiction with each other. They're in companionship with each other. Both are important. Learn to work on both aspects and you'll be glad you did. I'm Dr. Robert Rome, President of Personality Insights. Hope you've enjoyed this podcast. I look forward to another one real soon. Until then, I hope everything in your life goes well and you learn how to balance these two truths. Take care. God bless you. Bye Bye.

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