Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.
Proverbs 4:23
There many reasons and contributing influences that would cause a doctor to diagnose someone with what is medically known as a heart condition or heart disease. We also know that there are many simple things we can do to help prevent us from having a heart condition such as, a healthy diet, regular exercise and rest. With most of us, doing these simple things will help us avoid many of the different illnesses associated with heart disease. But how do we take care of our heart which the Bible refers to? How do we recognize and avoid a spiritual heart condition?
When the NIV Bible talks about the heart the 571 times it is used, almost every time that it is mentioned, it is not referring to the organ that pumps blood through our bodies. Hayford’s Bible Handbook tells us the following about what our Bibles mean concerning our heart. “HEART—the inner self that thinks, feels, and decides. In the Bible the word heart has a much broader meaning than it does to the modern mind. The heart is that which is central to a person. Nearly all the references to the heart in the Bible refer to some aspect of human personality.” Therefore, because this is the primary meaning and use of the word heart in our Bibles, we need to know what the Bible teaches us about our (spiritual) heart.
Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “a) Above all else, b) guard your heart, c) for it is the wellspring of life.” This verse naturally has three divisions, the first one is, “a) Above all else…” or in other words it means, “more so than anything else” or, what is going to be said is the most important thing more so than anything else.
- b) “guard your heart”. Guard as a sentry, to protect, be vigilant, be attentive. We always guard or protect what we consider valuable. We are never careless or inconsiderate for something that is ours which we consider valuable. We lock and have alarms on our houses and cars. We keep our important valuables and documents in a safe or in a safety deposit box at a bank. We have usernames, pass codes and passwords to access our cell phones. We have antivirus software on our computers. But what about our hearts? Why do our hearts need to be guarded and guarded from what or whom? Is it because our hearts are vulnerable? Is it because someone else wants access to our hearts to harm us?
Point c) “for it is the wellspring of life” is the reason why we need to guard our hearts. The Fire Study Bible explains it this way. “The heart represents the center of our being–the source of desire and decision. We must not allow anything to come into or flow out of our hearts that is not pleasing to God and helpful for spiritual growth. So, we “guard” what we watch, listen to, read, think about and talk about. All of those senses are ways that images and ideas root themselves in our hearts and affect the type of people we become.”
Jesus tells us in Luke 6:43-45 this important fact about the two possible conditions our hearts either “good” or “evil”, and one way it can be expressed. “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. What Jesus is telling us is, what is in our heart or the condition of our heart is expressed by what we say verbally and or even write (on Facebook).
In Mark 7:20-23 Jesus is talking about an “evil” or “unclean” heart and how it expresses itself by what it does. 20 He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ 21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.'”
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament tell us different ways of how the heart can be evil. The following is a very small sample.
- Genesis 6:5, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”
- Jeremiah 16:12, “But you have behaved more wickedly than your fathers. See how each of you is following the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying me.”
- Romans 2:5, “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.”
One way the Bible teaches us to protect ourselves from an “unclean” heart is what Psalm 119:11 tells us. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
The Bible also teaches us we cannot hide from God the condition of our hearts, God sees and knows our heart.
- Proverbs 21:2, “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
- 1 Samuel 16:7, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
- 1 Chronicles 28:9-10a, “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.”
The Bible has much to teach us about our hearts especially about the good aspects and expressions of our hearts.
- Psalms 119:7a, “I will praise you with an upright heart…”
- 1 Timothy 1:5, “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”
Jesus in two very short statements teaches us the most significant points in the Bible about our hearts and God.
- Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
- Matthew 22:37-38, “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”
Guarding our hearts from the influences that can give us a spiritual heart condition is important, but also understanding a pure heart is what allows us to experience and love God in our ever-growing relationship with Him.
Pastor John
