Guard Your Heart

Scripture Text: Proverbs 4:23

Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for from it flow the springs of life.

Proverbs 4:23

The heart, as the Bible defines it, is the center of a person's life, including the mind, the will, and emotion. The author of the Proverbs suggests to guard our hearts. Why? Because in the Bible, the heart is deceitful above all things. What comes out of a man's heart makes him unclean if he did not guard it. The good man stores good things in his heart and the evil man stores evil things in his heart that is why we must guard our heart. What you feed your heart is what you are.

King David was a man like us whose heart was divided to do good and evil. When David did not guard his heart, he was prone to do evil. However, the Lord commended David and said, "l have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything l want him to do." Even though David sinned against God, his confession of his sins was genuine, as it came from his heart. He was a liar, adulterer, and murderer, but he was quick to confess all of his sins. His repentance was genuine. When his heart inclined to sin, he suffered the consequences. When he experienced the discipline of the Lord, he did not repeat his wicked act. Then he received forgiveness from God.

Psalm 51:10-12 says "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." David was willing to do everything that the Lord wants him to do. David guarded his heart so as not to offend the Lord. He wanted to keep in the right path of life, he put away any perverse speech from his mouth. He worshipped God with all of his heart, mind, and spirit.

Therefore, as Christians, we must pay attention and listen to the instruction of God. Don't let them out of your sight. Always keep the word of God into your heart.

Reflect

1. Do you feed your heart with the right words? 2. Are you willing to do and obey God's word?

Remember

Always guard your heart—all your thinking will flow from your heart, whether good or bad. Make sure you take the right path, looking directly to God.

Read

Mark 7:14-23; Luke 6:37-45; Psalm 51:1-19; Psalm 23:1-6

Pray

Dear Lord, thank You for the good things I have. Please guide my heart not to offend You but to please You with my good deeds. Bless me with Your wisdom and help me to apply it to my life. This I pray, in Jesus' Name. Amen.