"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do, flows from it."
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
Solomon knew the relationship of words and the heart. His book of Proverbs is full of warnings against listening to foolishness and full of encouragement to listen closely to words of wisdom.
In this chapter he tells us: to TAKE HOLD, to KEEP, to GET, to LOVE, to CHERISH, to EMBRACE, to ACCEPT, to HOLD ONTO, to GUARD. He describes our lives as a journey on a path, where we sometimes walk and sometimes run, but we are always in danger of stumbling. This path is the life we live here and now before God and humans; becoming the righteousness we are meant to be. What he tells us to do is to receive God’s Words into our hearts, accept them as facts, and allow them to meet our emotions and affect our will.
If we stop for a moment and think back over the last 24 hours - what did we allow to affect our will?
What influenced our decisions? What influenced our actions? What caused us to say the words we said? What did we allow into our heart? GUARD your heart, don’t allow foolishness to enter that area that is the centre of who you are and what you do. Reject the lies of the world and the lies of your own desires. Choose your counselors carefully! Who do you listen to? Why do I dress the way I dress? Why do I walk the way I walk? Why do I spend the way I spend? Why do I relax the way I relax? Why do I treat my kids the way I treat my kids? Why did I speak that way to my spouse, or to my friend? To GUARD our hearts means that we examine what influences our actions, and reject some and allow others in. Solomon knew that every single thing that I do, that I say and that I am flows from my heart.
Oh may we be those who put the Word of God deep within our hearts. May we hide His Words and His Wisdom in the depths of our hearts! May we keep the dastardly words of our enemies far from the centre of our being.
Click here for a challenge this week to memorize Revelation 15:3,4 with a visual reminder of the verse to carry with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment