“Prone to wander Lord I feel it…prone to leave the God I love.” We closed last week’s message with the story behind those words – in order to help us understand the incredible bent we have towards settling and forgetting when it comes to the Christian life.
Prov. 4:23 says: “above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” and this struck me as directly relating to what we are looking at in 2nd Peter 3:1-2. So, I wanted to share a few thoughts on what it means “to guard” our hearts.
In our culture we tend to see the “heart” as the seat of emotions. We say things like: “I love you with all my heart.” But in Scripture the heart is the seat of the whole person – it is closer to our view of the “mind,” but falls short in getting our arms around what Solomon meant. In the culture of Solomon’s day “guard your heart” would have meant: “Be careful what you treasure; be careful what you set your affections and thoughts on.”
Now let’s link this definition to the heart being the “wellspring of life” – meaning it’s what directs the rest of life. In other words: what we set our mind and emotions on determines where we go and what we do – so it can pollute all of our life. This idea and imagery becomes even more significant when we read the verses that follow verse 23 that mention other organs: “Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead.… Make level paths for your feet” (4:24-26).
So here’s the point: above everything else we are being challenged to guard our heart “for it is the wellspring of life.” Our hearts are the source of everything in a way that other members of our body are not. Jesus uses much the same imagery. “You brood of vipers,” He said, “how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him” (Matt. 12:34-35).
So here’s the point: one way we can keep from settling and forgetting is to guard our hearts; to make doing it of paramount importance – “Above all else, guard your heart.” The heart is literally the center of our entire personality – so it is what must be preserved. If our Christian experience is merely external, while our heart is a seething mass of self-interest, what good is our faith? If our heart is ardently pursuing peripheral things (as opposed to seeking first the kingdom of God) then from a Biblical perspective where are we? But if we, above all else, see it our duty to guard our hearts that resolve will translate into choices of what we read, how we pray, what we linger over, and so on. It will also prompt self-examination, confession, repentance, and faith – and will transform the rest of our life!
Pastor John