The Importance Of Guarding Our Hearts

Letter A

Verse: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Proverb 4:23 (NIV)

Today's beginning alphabetical verse is one of my personal favorites.  The reason is that there is so much truth jam packed into such few words.  Solomon wrote a majority of the book of Proverbs. He did so with divine inspiration of God, writing as a father giving wisdom and advice to his son.  This advice is just as true and applicable for us today.  

First off, this verse tells us the importance of guarding and protecting our hearts.  This is not the physical heart, but the heart as in the inward most part of ourselves that defines our character.  Why is it important to protect our heart?  This verse along with other verses of scripture (Matthew 15:18) tell us that our inward heart is the source or stream where our outward words and actions flow.  We can either be a spring of cool, fresh, nourishing water OR a muddy, bleak, contaminated spring.  The spring depends on the shape of the inward heart.  This gives us cause to reflect and self examine our hearts on a regular basis, asking God to help us in that evaluation.  Also important is that we listen to God as He reveals the content of our hearts to us.  

Secondly, we move from the why to the how.  How do we protect our hearts?  At the current time I think of all the precautions and protections of human kind with the COVID-19 outbreak.  Closing schools, concerts, restaurants, church services, reducing store shopper sizes/hours, are all means of protecting ourselves and others to stop the rate of the spread of the virus.  Using masks, handwashing, wiping down surfaces, and using hand sanitizers are also protective means to keep the virus at bay.  As a part time pharmacy tech, I teach and share these important methods of prevention.  However, I can't help but to think in reading this verse that God asks that we take seriously and be just as cautious with how we protect the health of our inward heart and the importance of keeping purity within our hearts.  The world around us in today's culture is a big source of contamination.  The key is protecting ourselves from letting the contamination enter.  We should be careful of the things that we see and hear.  This can be from music, television, conversations, social media, etc.  What are we letting in?  Is it wholesome things that God would approve?  If not, then we need to make the choice to refrain or walk away at the first sign of contamination.  Just as we would the COVID-19 virus.  We should be careful of the places that we go.  Is it a place or setting that God would approve, or are we opening ourselves for dangerous contamination just by being there?  Our hearts are worth keeping pure.  God deserves that we have a pure heart in service to Him.  Those around us need to be affected in a positive way with words and actions that stream from a pure heart.  What better way to show others the character and love of Christ?