Guard Your Heart!

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

The other day I was driving downtown and I saw one of those armored vehicles parked in front of one of the banks.  There were two guys standing alongside it, both with what looked like high powered shotguns.  I came to this simple conclusion, what was inside that vehicle had value and their job was to protect it.  I guess most people today are willing to protect something that has value to them.  I know I am and I bet you are to.

One thing we have a lot of here in America is stuff!  We have all sorts of stuff and we go to great lengths to protect our stuff, because we feel our stuff has value to us!  In light of eternity, I am not sure that heaven looks at our stuff the way we do.  Which brings me to this very important question, are we willing to guard the one thing that really matters, our hearts?

King Solomon was very clear in the book of Proverbs on how important it is for each of us to guard our hearts.  I think I hear him saying that this should be our number one priority in life.  Above all else, above all stuff, above everything, we must guard our hearts.  We know how important our heart is to us physically, if the heart stops, life stops.  If our desire is to live a long, healthy life, we must take good care of our hearts.

What about spiritually?  Jesus talked a lot about the condition of the human heart.  The heart is the very core of our being.  It is the center of who we are, everything flows out of this incredible work of God.  God made it, Jesus wants it and we are called to guard it.  It is our responsibility to guard what goes in and what comes out of our hearts.  Our spiritual enemy, satan will go to great lengths to highjack our hearts so that we will serve him and this world.  We must stand strong, understand the task at hand and always do our best to guard our hearts.

As I mentioned earlier, those guys had some big and powerful weapons, which probably helped them in what they needed to guard.  As we guard our hearts, God has given a weapon more powerful than any on earth, His Word!  God made it very clear in the book of Hebrews about the power of His Word.

For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Maybe it’s time we stop worrying about the stuff of this world and assume our responsibility and do a better job of guarding our most valued possession, our hearts. If we are going to be a people that live our faith, everything we do must be filtered through the word of God.

Today is a new day!  God wants our very best, let’s give it to Him!