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Heart Attitudes: Cultivating Life on the inside

Reviewed by Matt Rowe.

Graham Beynon writes on a topic that is of great importance to the lives of Christians today. From the outset, you can sense his pastoral experience as he gives examples of how a person’s relationship with God is affected when their heart is not engaged with him, e.g. the frequent complaint that the Christian life is something that people do rather than what they feel.

This book is very clear in stating that God is concerned about our hearts, and that our hearts are at the very centre of how we live out our faith as Christians. Graham states that the attitude of our heart defines who we are, as well as affecting our experience of God and our feelings towards him.

This book then continues to look at nine attitudes of the heart that affect our relationship with God, such as love, fear, joy and contentment. It considers how, in order to love God, we must be loyal and devoted to him; how fear of God can be a positive thing; and how, if we are to maintain a healthy relationship with God, we must live contented lives in a discontented world.

I highly recommend this book, as it provides great pastoral insights into helping people engage their hearts with God, and could provide helpful material for those wanting to preach on this subject too.