Keep Thy Heart
I was doing my devotional today and this really jumped out at me:
Proverbs 4:23-27 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” The heart is the source from which our thoughts, choices, actions spring forth from. All issues of life begin in the heart. They continue through thought and what we choose to say and see. Thoughts direct our footsteps and become actions. Our actions in life have consequences both good and bad. We are known by our fruits. (Matt 7:17-20) All consequences from actions taken begin in the heart.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
So often I’ve heard it said of men and women in a bad situation, “S/He has a good heart.” or “His/her heart is in the right place.” Wrong! That is just a poor excuse trying to excuse poor behavior. We are born with an evil sin nature. We are responsible to try to subdue it. Being in a sinful situation is the result of failure to subdue the heart and our sin nature.
Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
How can one who is surrounded by the continual consequences of choices and actions that are sinful have a good heart?
Ezekiel 33:31-32 And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.
They hear, but they do not do. With their mouth they show love, but their heart goes after covetousness. They say all the right things, but do them not. While it might look and sound on the outside that their “heart is in the right place” the fruit and consequences for actions prove it to be superficial and to go no more than skin deep.
Keep thy heart with all diligence.