Guard Your Heart
Proverbs 4:20-27
Several years ago, we had a friend staying with us for several months. He was a mess. He was struggling with several addictions, a failed marriage, and a collapsing business. His wife kicked him out of the house, so he was staying with us temporarily.
One evening we were watching television and I got up to get some ice cream. I offered to get him some as well. When I gave him his ice cream, I went back into the family room to finish watching the show. He, however, sat down at the table. I informed him it was fine to bring the ice cream into the family room so he could see the television. He informed me he couldn’t because his mom had taught him to always eat at the table.
I remember being amused by this for days. He had cheated on his wife, he was battling multiple addictions, his life was in disarray because of so many foolish choices, but by golly he wasn’t going to disobey his mom and eat that ice cream in the family room.
Actually, I’ve seen this a lot over the years. People who seem to have no convictions about things that are obviously wrong and destructive, but they get on their high horse about things of little consequence. One area where I see that these days is related to food. People can form pretty strong opinions on what you should or should not eat. I’m not talking about healthy food versus junk food. I’m talking about whether it’s organic or cage free or grown in this place and not that place. Sometimes I have to admit I don’t know exactly where the chicken was raised, I just ordered a chicken sandwich because it sounded good.
Now to be clear if those things are important to you that’s fine. You need to make the decisions that you feel are best for you. But what I would invite us to consider this week is the importance of what goes into our hearts. It’s interesting how many people agonize over what they put into their stomachs but seem pretty undiscerning about what goes into their hearts.
Proverbs says, Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life. It also states that if the right things go into your heart, they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. In other words, what goes into your heart impacts your physical health.
When we think about the heart today, we tend to think about our emotions. We say things like, “I love you with all my heart.” But in the ancient world the term heart captured more the center of your being. It encompassed your mind, your emotions, and your will. Perhaps today we might use a term like the soul. Guard your soul, for from it flow the springs of life. In other words, what’s on the inside determines what shows up on the outside, including our physical health.
Recently I was having a conversation with a college student. I have met with him many times. I believe he is a sincere follower of Jesus that genuinely wants to do the right thing. But he has a tendency to allow his emotions to run his life. He’s worked hard to know and believe the truth. When he’s thinking rightly, he does well. But when his emotions do his thinking for him, he struggles.
One area we talked about was how controlled he was by social media. Like many today, that little device in his hand was controlling his life. For some, social media is simply a way to stay connected. For others it borders on an obsession that controls people’s emotions and poisons their heart. How many otherwise pleasant days have been ruined because of something you allowed to pollute your heart from social media? It’s a significant problem for people of all ages.
I asked my young friend, whom I believe to be a sincere Christian, what it would be like to get to the end of your story and realize this one life you’ve been given was mostly defined by a small electronic device that you allowed to control your life? Let’s not kid ourselves, that will be the story of many. Let that sink in for a moment, the health of many people’s hearts will ultimately be defined by their phones or other electronic devices.
Perhaps for others the source of the problem is feeding on the news all day long or talk radio or a toxic environment at work or at home. Perhaps you have friends that keep you down or seem bent on making you miserable. All of these can do great damage to our hearts. We need to do what is necessary to guard our hearts.
The Proverb suggests some ways to do this. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you. Get control of your own mouth and separate yourself from those who can’t control theirs. Of course, this can refer to face to face or something on social media.
Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. The idea here is to long for, to gaze at the right things. Then fix your eyes on them. Stop longing for stuff you shouldn’t have or continually looking for the next thing. We guard our hearts by wanting what is right and good.
Figuratively speaking, there’s no shortage of junk food out there. Our culture is filled with ways to damage your heart. So get clear what is healthy, what will satisfy your soul, and focus on that—long for that. Skillful living requires that we have clarity about what gives us life and fix our eyes on those things.
Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; turn your foot from evil. As we talked about last week, determine what path you are going to travel and commit to it. The more we vacillate from one path to the other the more damage we do to our hearts. Settle it once and for all, the path of the righteous is where you find life. Get your game face on. Set your eyes on the things that nourish your soul and avoid that which does damage to your heart.
Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.