Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
Summary: Life can be hard on a person’s heart. If we allow our heart to become callused we risk closing it off to God’s love. Instead, it is better if we remain open-hearted, but on guard.
One of the downsides of living in my particular brain is that I often get caught up in analysis. Sometimes I fall so far down the rabbit hole that I completely lose sight of the rest of what makes me human.
Does that sound weird?
It should. It is weird. It is weird to think about and even weirder to experience. I do not recommend it.
As a young man in college, I was in the perfect environment to get caught up in analysis. Everyone around me was on some kind of head trip. At one point, I remember wrestling with the question of the heart. What is it? What makes the heart different from the mind? Where is my heart?
As near as I could tell, I had lost track of my heart. I could not find it.
This bothered me at the time. It should have! Not having a heart is a serious problem. I had one, but I had ignored it for so long that I forgot how to find it and get back in.
When God tapped me on the shoulder and got my attention later in life, he touched my heart. In many ways, my heart was broken. Like a boarded-up old house, the windows of my heart were all covered with thick boards nailed in place. The door was locked and there were signs out in the yard saying “No Trespassing.”
Somewhere along the line, I had not guarded my heart. I had let it get hurt and I had abused it myself. My heart was a basket case. God healed it.
The healing took time. Such things do. I am sure there is more healing to come. But the one thing I do differently these days is to pay attention to who and what is in my heart.
The doors are open, and the windows are unshuttered, but I stand guard. I watch out for any sign of the following:
“evil thoughts …—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” (Mark 7: 21-22)
As it turns out, the mind is part of the heart. It is like the ‘front porch’ of the house. Any desire we feel, any emotion at all, is part of the house of our heart. The thoughts that flash through the rooms of our hearts reveal who we are.
I am not a good person. My heart was in really bad shape until Jesus came in. Then things got better. A lot better.
It is easy to forget, let my guard down, and indulge in anger, frustration, or resentment. But every time I do, it bites me. I cannot afford to be without Jesus in my heart for even a second. Life is too short, so I guard my heart.
Application: Pay attention to the thoughts and emotions you allow inside your heart and mind.
Food for Thought: How does indulging in a guilty fantasy affect what I do if I never act on it and no one ever knows about it?
Solomon was the second wisest man who ever lived. If he said to guard your heart it must be very very important. Thanks for explaining what our ‘heart’ is, Jeff! 🙏
Jim,
I am so glad you are exploring Proverbs with me! Thank you!
How does indulging in a guilty fantasy affect what I do if I never act on it and no one ever knows about it?
First off, what we allow ourselves to spend time thinking about eventually manifests into action of some sort. You can’t go to the aquarium everyday to “just watch” without eventually wanting to swim with the dolphins.
Secondly, if our hearts are a place where God resides, how can we try to have both Light and dark in the same place?
A few verses come to mind when I think of this question too:
Proverbs 23:7a “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
Hebrews 4:13 “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
Philippians 4:8 “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Psalm 19:14 “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (Amen)”
Chris,
As always, you bring a delightful perspective to the conversation. I can’t say I have ever wanted to “swim with the dolphins” but I do get the idea. 🙂 I also appreciate that light and dark don’t mix. And the verses you provided are spot on. Thanks!
Jesus also directly discussed this topic in the sermon on the mount. He repeatedly quoted from the Ten Commandments and then applied them to the heart. If I lust after a woman, Jesus says I committed adultery in my heart. If I get really angry and fantasize about doing someone in, Jesus says I committed murder in my heart (the seat of my intellect, emotions, passions). He was letting us know the standards for his followers was to be different than the standards of the world. We are to be a holy people – and thus we must be set apart to the Lord – even our hearts (1 Peter 3: 15a).
Thank you pastor Rich.
T you are such an encouragement and blessing.
Rich,
Thank you for the beautiful reference to the Sermon on the Mount. Well said!
02-28-2022, Proverbs 4:23, How does indulging in a guilty fantasy affect what I do if I never act on it and no one ever knows about it?
As a convicted, newly awakened person seeking God, I recall the strong feeling of fear of God and the feelings of shame, especially when I was among believers. God had removed the barriers and for the first time in my life, I was so very aware of my failings and my unworthiness. Then one day, as I was studying the Bible, I became aware of the fact that it was this knowledge of my corrupted heart that made me a perfect candidate for God’s salvation and cleansing. Jesus had come for the broken and I was definitely broken.
Psalm 51:17, Luke 4:18,
I still recall how in my minds eye, in a fearful desperation, I held my black heart high, dark, thick tar like sewage covered my hand and ran down my forearm as I quickly pushed to the head of the line of all those seeking the cleansing power of Jesus Christ. I had strong proof of my need for salvation and I remember offering this black heart to Jesus for cleansing. He took my heart and returned it to me cleansed. The weight of 33 years of living for myself, feeding my flesh, was lifted from me as I received spiritual life. I was clean, aware of God’s presence with me and wanted everyone to have what I had been given.
James 4:8, 1 John 1:9
In a fairly short time by feet returned to the ground and I began to once again feel burdens weighing me down. I continued my studies, continued in church but found myself compromising on “what I determined were small” issues.
44 years have passed and I have learned, with God, their are no small issues, and if we seek to maintain a full time relationship with God, we must come to know He really is Holy, and really will not allow a speck of sin to be in His presence. To God, all sin is equally contaminating and He will not allow Himself to be contaminated by what we may determine is small. To indulge our flesh, allow even a thought of any sin, is to separate ourselves from God. To walk with God, we must become like Him, not think we can make Him be like us.
1 John 1:7,
To walk with God requires a daily, moment by moment cleansing of our spiritual feet as Jesus demonstrated with His disciples. A life of trying will bring us closer to the goal.
John 13:10
Thank you Ron I needed to hear this and to read my bible more today.
Thanks Mr T, I needed to hear this. His word lights our way!
Blessings,
Ron
Ron,
Thank you! You have painted a picture that is impossible to ignore and one that clearly explains why keeping our heart free of sinful thoughts is so important.
Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23 NASB
I’m going to run a bit with imagery.
What if we look at anything getting past our defense as poisoning the spring? God defined good and evil tell us what is poisonous or not. If we don’t keep out what God tells us is poison(evil) then we’ll poison our spring. Any water we offer is hazardous to others.
Okay now the question about a guilty fantasy. God says ‘not good’ to those thoughts, if we let them in once. It taints the water, but it’s a spring so it’ll clear again…. But making a habit of it repeatedly poisons the spring and even worse the surrounding ground is filled with it. Just stopping poisoning isn’t enough to make it well. We need God to purify.
Now the one time…. That’s still not good, but something only happening once shows that our guard missed something, but the Holy Spirit told us to watch out for it and then we actually did and escorted the perpetrator out of our heart. (Clarifying that even that part isn’t accomplished without God and is about obedience)
A –
Your imagery speaks volumes! The idea that poison taints the ground around the spring is well said. Such things leave a mark. Almost like a child who is dressed in his Sunday best and is told not to step in the mud puddle. What does he do? Yep … first it is a step towards the mud puddle, then a toe goes in, and then…
Ker – splash!
🙂