Wisdom for your heart

Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.

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.

Proverbs 4:23-26

 

The Bible tells us, “Above everything else guard your heart.”

 

This admonition goes beyond a heart-healthy diet. Our heart requires spiritual care. We must guard our hearts because Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. (Matthew 15:19)”

 

We must avoid the sinful contaminants that wear our heart down. Proverbs 6:24 warns, “Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.”

 

Jesus said, “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (Matthew 12:34)”

 

Check your heart health by listening to what comes out of your mouth. “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and saltwater flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
(James 3:10-12)”

 

We are also warned about our eyes. “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. (Proverbs 6:25)”

 

What your eyes focus on will enter your heart. Jesus was serious about this. He said, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. (Matthew 5:29)”

 

Jesus said, additionally, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. (Luke 11:34)”

 

Therefore, we must keep our eyes on Jesus the beginning and the end of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2)

 

Keep out of situations that can compromise your heart. “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. (Proverbs 6:26)”

What Your Heart Reveals

Mark 12:28-34
 
Blood tests can reveal the condition of your heart but your heart reveals the condition of your faith.

Your heart is important to God. Jesus once told a man that the greatest commandment is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30)

The heart represents our moral choices and motivations. The Bible declares, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7)

The heart reveals the truth. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matthew 15:19)

The heart reveals our priorities. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

The heart is also the source of our faith. “'The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,' that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:8-10)

We must beware because the heart can deceive us. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

A bad heart can fail you when you need it. It can become numb and cynical and eventually cause your death. Because of this we need is a heart transplant from God. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)

Just a new physical heart allows you to do things you could not do before, a new spiritual heart will allow you to love God and put away shame, bitterness and deceit.
 
A new heart must be protected. The first heart transplant recipient lived 18 days. Since then we have learned how to take better care of a new heart. We must protect our hearts spiritually as well. “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

Jesus said that some hearts will reject His message; those hearts that are occupied with competing priorities. Prayer, worship and trust are the keys to loving God with all our heart. 

Blessed are the pure in heart because they will see God.

Matthew 5:8