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Keeping The Heart
Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. --Proverbs 4:23
The “heart” referred to in passages like this is primarily “the will and even the intellect” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Hebrew, #3820). From that same resource we learn the verb “keep” (#5341) is “to guard; to protect; to maintain; to obey” Thus, the Bible gives insight into the value of our will and intellect inasmuch as they direct our very activities.
This heart, we sometimes call the mind, is incredibly powerful. Just through its imagination one is able to control the pulse rate and respiration. One is capable of believing a lie as did Jacob when his sons told him Joseph had been devoured by a beast (Genesis 37:33). When those same sons spoke the truth in telling him Joseph was alive in Egypt, Jacob's heart stood still, because he did not believe them (Genesis 45:26).
Do you see the importance of “guarding” or “keeping” the heart? We are the captain of our ship on the sea of life. Each of us are empowered to sail our vessel into the port of our choosing. It is most noteworthy that Solomon’s wisdom exhorts us to “guard” or “keep” our heart with all diligence. Careless attention is not even suggested in the exhortation. Instead, careful attention is the level of care demanded. The difference in a life mediocrity and one of purpose and accomplishment is directly related to the matter of diligence in making choices in our lives, e.g., to accept or reject the existence of God; to accept or reject the Bible as God’s revealed mind; to embrace the responsibility and subsequent accountability of Bible teaching. My friend, this passage from Proverbs 4:23 is extremely telling when it comes to our “will and intellect.”
Have you stopped to consider that the knowledge which has made possible all of the technology of today has been in existence from the beginning? It took diligent application of “the will and the intellect” to arrive at the vast amount information uncovered within just the last few decades. We are made to wonder what man will be capable of doing as he continues building on the present knowledge base.
The matter to be considered is that in all the discoveries of relatively recent years, nothing has been discovered that changes the moral obligation of human beings to one another nor to their Creator. A lawyer once approached Jesus asking Him, “...which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:37). Mark 12:28 quotes the lawyer as saying, “...which is the first commandment of all?” The priority commandment, according to Jesus is: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind' (Matthew 22:37). Or, as Mark 12:30 renders it: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'
This scribe has emphasized for the sake of this discussion the Divine intent that our “will and intellect” — heart, if you will — must be conditioned to love the Lord God supremely. That comes only by applying “all diligence.” Regardless of the greatness of discoveries past, present, or future, none will eclipse the first and great commandment.
If we are going to be successful in overcoming the challenges of our generation, keeping (guarding) our heart is non-negotiable. We, like those faithful worthies of old, must maintain a stubborn, resilient faith that will not compromise no matter what the tide of contemporary thinking may suggest.
It is interesting that the examples left for us in I Corinthians 10:1-11 and Hebrews 11 are of those who determined their responses to the then prevailing human wisdom and philosophies of men. In I Corinthians 10:1-11 there are examples of those who caved in to the influences of peers and cultures they found themselves in. In Hebrews 11, those who guarded their hearts are heralded as worthy of imitation in the matter of obeying God.
We cannot emphasize strongly enough our resolute determination to not fall prey to Satan and his schemes for they are many and are becoming more and more insidious. We are saddened but not surprised to hear of and see saints who have become careless in guarding their hearts. Consequently, families are torn asunder and souls are lost. The influence of the fallen is an overwhelming influence on others in other places.
In the world of business, individuals decide how they are going to approach their work. Most are haphazard and settle for mediocrity while others seem unstoppable. The successful ones find and follow the examples of those determined to achieve. In our study of Daniel on Sunday evenings and Revelation on Wednesday nights, we are presented with those unwilling to bow to political or social pressure. The message from heaven’s throne is, “overcome, be faithful, you will be rewarded,” — but it may cost you what men hold dear, e.g., your life. Please consider carefully this summary from Hebrews 11:32-40. 32And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented — 38of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. 39And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
My friend, my brother, my sister, let us stubbornly resolve to: Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. --Proverbs 4:23 --Al Sandlin |