Guard your heart: Proverbs 4:23
We use the word heart a lot in our conversations, and it occurs countless times in the Bible. Jesus told us to love God with our heart, and King Solomon exhorted his hearers to “guard your heart.” But what is the heart and why is it so important? And how do we maintain a pure heart?
What is the heart?
In biblical language, a human consists of a body, soul, and spirit. There are different beliefs as to how the soul comes into existence. But most beliefs affirm that the soul is the essence and substance of our non-physical being and is commonly thought to include the mind, emotions, will (volition), and heart. Jesus himself affirmed the existence of the soul (Matthew 10:28, 16:26, 22:37).
The heart is a main component of the soul, as it is the center of our desires and longings. From the heart spring our desires and affections—what we love, what we value, what we are devoted to, and what we really want. And these desires affect our will, our mind, and ultimately our actions, providing motivation for what we plan and do.
Jesus was asked what the greatest and most important command was, and he 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. (Matthew 22:37-38)
To love God with all our heart means that this is what we truly desire to do, not just what we think we should do. It is to love him with a true longing and desire, not just an intermittent or curious interest. Jesus also taught:
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21)
In other words, our treasure—what we value—is where our heart will reside.
Guard your heart
King Solomon wrote this about the importance of the heart:
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (Proverbs 4:23)
Why is the heart so important? Because everything we do starts in the heart. We love, believe, make decisions, and choose our paths with the heart. It all flows from our heart. It’s with the heart that we choose a mate, it’s with the heart that we choose our life’s paths. It’s with the heart that we turn to the Lord and believe in him (Romans 10:10), and it’s with the heart that we turn away from the Lord and follow other gods (Deuteronomy 29:18).
Solomon continued:
Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. (Proverbs 4:24-27)
Solomon understood that what we desire in our heart directs our thoughts, and our thoughts direct our speech and our actions. What resides in our heart ultimately directs the paths we take. So, to keep our love for God pure and strong, we need to guard our heart and jealously protect it from danger and temptation.
A pure heart
A pure heart is clean and uncontaminated, unencumbered from spiritual and moral pollution. First, it’s the result of being forgiven and cleansed of our sins through faith in Jesus. Second, it’s the result of making good choices in life: pursuing godliness, spending time with God and walking in fellowship with him. In the Beatitudes, Jesus spoke of the importance of a pure heart:
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)
When our heart is pure, we can see God more clearly. We can see who he is and what he is like. A pure heart enables us to have an even closer fellowship and communion with the Lord, to reach the very heart of God.
In our fellowship with God, one of our most important prayers is that he would help us guard our hearts to keep us from temptation, to remain pure. As Jesus prayed in his model prayer to the Father:
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:13)
His prayer assumes that we want to be free from the desire to sin. If our heart isn’t pure, then our desires are not either and we won’t even care if we fall into temptation. But when God occupies the first place in our heart, there’s no room for evil desire. We want his will for our lives.
Temptation
Temptation arises when we’re presented with an enticing but harmful pleasure or selfish personal gain. It could be harmful to ourselves, to others, or to our relationship with God.
…. each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. (James 1:14-15)
A tempting thought or enticement if nursed or entertained can grow into a desire. And allowing the desire to grow leads to sin, impurity, or compromise, the final result of which is death. If we continue in sin we can harden our heart: against each other, against what is good, and against God.
What pulls you away from God? Food, drugs or alcohol, sexual or physical pleasure, money, wealth? Power over others, revenge, popularity, or status?
A defiled heart
Jesus focused his teaching on the heart and not outward appearances or physical displays. Addressing the Pharisees’ criticism that his disciples didn’t ceremonially wash their hands before eating, he said:
“Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) (Mark 7:14-19)
Nothing that is on our body or enters it can make us spiritually unclean. So, food can’t make us morally or spiritually pure or impure. It’s what’s in our heart that makes us clean or unclean, not what enters the body.
He went on:
“What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:20-23)
From an impure and defiled heart flow evil and wickedness. First come evil desires, then evil thoughts, then evil actions. Of course, this is not a complete list of sins.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus clarified the true meaning of the Mosaic law, and how the law was given for our good and our protection. He emphasized that it’s not just the physical act that is sinful, but the desire of the heart to commit the sin. So, hatred in the heart is the root of murder, and lust the root of adultery. Everything starts in the heart.
Maintaining a pure heart
And how do we guard our heart? First, by discerning what enters it and screening out anything that threatens it, pollutes it, or compromises its integrity. We can be led in the wrong direction by certain movies, books, or even harmful friendships. Maintaining a pure heart may require putting limits on our social media use, by blocking certain feeds or authors or by limiting our time spent on the internet. Consistently obeying God and making godly decisions in our personal life trains our heart to want what is good.
Second, though the heart affects our thoughts, conversely our thoughts can also train the heart and affect its condition. Filling ourselves with God’s Word conditions our heart to want to please him, as David wrote:
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11)
Third, we need to train our minds on the things that are true and right, things that are pure and lovely, admirable and praiseworthy:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)
And that means rejecting thoughts that are impure and unholy, putting them to death.
And lastly, being constant in prayer and thanksgiving will guard not only our hearts, but also our minds:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
The peace that comes with a love relationship with God protects our hearts from evil. Prayer to the Father gives us that peace when we’re in the midst of trial and temptation.
Alive in Christ
God told Jeremiah that he would establish a new covenant and under this covenant, he would write his law in the hearts of his people (Jeremiah 31:33). By this he meant that the truth of his word would be inscribed onto the believer’s heart, creating new desires. Submitting to God in love would now be their heart’s desire, what they really want and not what they think they should want.
As believers in Christ, we have been raised with him to newness of life. We are “new creatures” in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). We were previously dead to the things of God, but now we are alive to him. Because of this, our true desire is to please him, so our hearts should be set on the life we have in him. To maintain a pure heart, our minds need to be on the things of God:
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)
The ultimate and greatest desire any heart can have is the desire to know and love God. We set our hearts on the things of God because we belong to him, we are born in him, and we love him because we are his children.
Guard your heart for God
So, guard your heart and keep it safe for God. Be free of the sin that entangles and be ready to hear God’s voice speaking to you. Filter out anything that would steal your peace with him or interrupt your fellowship with him. Reject those thoughts that would entice you to sin against the Lord, and put them to death. And then you will be able to see him more clearly and live a life that is pleasing to him.
May this be our prayer today:
Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. (Psalm 86:11)
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