“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23 Have you ever said something or did something you regretted? Have you ever told yourself afterwards, “Okay, lesson learned. I’m not going to do this again”? And, after having told yourself this, have you done it again? If you answered no to all these questions, good for you. I can’t relate. If you answered yes to all these questions, you’ve experienced the failure that follows changing your mind without changing your heart. “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Matthew 12:34 Some scholarly researchers have argued that biblical references to “heart” and “mind” are the same in meaning. God said that David was a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), which many scholars believe means David was a man after God’s own mind. Lucky for me I am not a biblical scholar and lucky for us not everyone has to be in order to get what God is saying in His word, so I’m going to assume “heart" means heart and “mind" means mind. So what does it mean that you speak what your heart is full of? And why is it that we can know we shouldn’t do/say/think certain things, but we still do/say/think them anyway? I think the “heart” being referenced here is a lot more complex than we can understand, for this is the same “heart” that God can harden in order to darken our understanding. “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” Ephesians 4:18 By this logic, you cannot even get close to wrapping your mind around certain truths when your heart is hard. This is a difficult subject. In one sense our hearts are always going to be hardened to a certain degree because we can never fully understand God. But in another sense, if our hearts are too hardened, we will be ignorant, separated from the life of God, and overflowing with evil. For instance, has your heart ever been so hard that you didn't even feel guilty when you were in sin until the extremity of what you had done finally clicked? When our hearts are hard, even our own guilty conscience can't understand what's going on. The heart is a powerful influencer in our actions and reactions. Which is why it is important to guard our hearts. The very thing which causes us to overflow with evil actions/thoughts/words is the very thing we must fight to protect and fight to keep obedient to Christ. But though we already know our hearts can cause us to do evil even when our minds are well aware of the good we should seek, what can we even do to guard our hearts? “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 The answer is prayer. In most instances, the answer is always prayer. As much as you may think your mind is strong enough to battle the impulses of the evil that overflows from your heart, you’re wrong. You can’t. Your mind isn’t strong enough. Your heart will win every time. Guard your heart by praying to God, and His peace will guard both your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. That’s the answer. "Though certain I knew who I was quite well,
0 Comments
|
AuthorFighting complacency and advocating change in myself for the world around me. Posts by Date
February 2019
Posts by Name
All
|