Guard your heart ∙

Guard your heart ∙

Guard your heart above all else, for it is the seat of our personality. – Proverbs 4:23

Matthew 12:35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

The physical human body is intelligently designed. For example, the autonomic nervous system regulates the involuntary activity of the heart, digestion, respiration, perspiration, metabolism, and blood pressure. When the body senses cold, blood rushes to the core of the body to protect the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and brain.

The physical human heart is the control center of the human body. In the 17th century, William Harvey discovered that the heart was responsible for the circulation of blood. The discovery revolutionized medical science. 

Somehow Solomon was aware of the importance of the physical heart. He displayed a scientific awareness and accuracy far beyond his times. In fact, he takes it for granted. He used the heart to illustrate spiritual truth. In a moral and spiritual sense, the heart must be protected because life and spiritual well-being flows from within (Ironside).

Everyday life is filled with heart challenges. How often do we find ourselves offended, stressed, frustrated, or angry? Rather than allowing ourselves to succumb to these challenges, we can choose to overcome them.

Countering negative reactions and their consequent negative emotions should be among our highest priorities.

The heart can only be protected by deliberate and conscious acts of the will. It is incumbent upon every child of the King to learn how and to choose to guard their hearts. What happens within our hearts, impacts everything else.

The book of Proverbs is filled with great wisdom and sagacious sayings. There is a very important verse, a pearl of great price, which is frequently unnoticed.

Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else. [with all diligence and vigilance], for it determines the course of your life. [for from it are the sources of life, for from it flow the springs of life].

REFLECT & PRAY

The heart is the center, the home of our innermost being. Our life force flows from our hearts.

Father teach me to carefully guard my heart above all else. As goes my heart my life force follows.

INSIGHT

In the Scriptures, the heart is the center of our innermost being. It is the seat of our personality, moral consciousness, and affections. The heart is the home of our zeal and delight, our yearnings and drives, our decisions and choices. It is the command module of our inward life. Out of it flows our life force.

Of all things that people possess, the heart is the most important. If the heart becomes polluted, the consequences are dire. Whatever finds a home in our hearts, will ooze out of our lives. What we think, determines our character and our actions. If our thinking is corrupt, so will be our lives.

Consider the Nile River of Egypt. It was the source of fertility and abundance for Ancient Egypt. It was the source of life. In the book of Exodus, the Father selected the Nile as the target for one of the ten plagues. When the water of the Nile turned to blood, the life force of Egypt became a source of defilement, sickness, and death.

Matthew 12:35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

Because the heart is so important, it should be carefully and vigilantly watched over guarded, protected, and preserved. This is to be done with all the diligence and effort we can apply. The Hebrew word translated diligence is mishmar, it literally has the sense of above all guarding (BDB) or “more than anything else you may guard” (USB).  “The heart must be guarded more zealously than anything else” (Fox).

The term heart is often interchanged in the Scriptures with mind, soul, and spirit. In a sense, not only does the heart feel, but it also thinks.

Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

We become what we think! We live out what we believe and focus upon. To become what the Father wants us to become and live in a manner that is pleasing to Him, we must have the proper focus.

Colossians 3:1-5

 1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

 5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you.

“Transformation is God’s goal for us, and we cooperate with His plan of spiritual metamorphosis when we train our minds to dwell on the things of God rather than on the things of the flesh” (Stanley).

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¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 12-15-9