On Guard

Read the Proverbs Series from the beginning here.

Proverbs 4:23 “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.”

Safes. Locks. Bolts. Tornado shelters. Vaults. Passwords.

We value our possessions and keep the most precious locked away as safely as possible and yet we wear our hearts and our emotions on our sleeves.

Obviously, we don’t literally pin our beating, blood-pumping heart like a bracelet. We would die very quickly. In His wisdom and perfect design, the Lord surrounded our literal heart with our chest bone in order to protect it.

We should take a cue from our skeletal structure when we think about our figurative heart – the one we create phrases about like “that warms my heart,” “my achy breaky heart,” and, of course, “bless her heart.”

Scripture tells us to guard our hearts above all else. We take precautions with our jewelry by putting it in safes. We protect our writings and emails by using passwords. We even use military and police to guard our citizens.

But how do we guard our hearts?

By evaluating what we value.

By monitoring the amount of time spent per activity and keeping a healthy balance. When we spend three hours at ball practice and 15 minutes on school work, we value sports over academics. When we spend an hour and a half getting ready in the morning but “don’t have time” to read the Bible or pray, we value our looks over our relationship with God.

Our heart is a vital organ that sustains life. It does not need to be polluted by obsessions with popularity or wealth. It needs to be kept healthy by a daily reflection on our walk with Christ and obedience to His commands.