Guarding the heart (an everyday process)

Keeping the Heart
J. Vaughan, M.A.
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.


All wise people like to go deeply into a thing, to go to the root of it. What is your root? Where is it? Your "heart." A little boy had a very nice watch; but it would not go right. It had a very pretty case, and face; but it sometimes went too fast, and sometimes too slow. He asked his mother what he should do about it. She told him to take it to the watchmaker's. He did so; and he said, " Master John, it has its hands all right, but it will not go right. Therefore leave it with me, and come again in a few days, and I will tell you what is the matter with it." John went again to him in a few days, and the watchmaker said to him, "I opened your watch, and I found there was the right number of wheels, and pins, and screws; but I found a little part called 'the spring' which was wrong; and because the main-spring was wrong, it sometimes went too fast, and sometimes too slow." Now, I think, you are all like watches. Something within you goes tick, tick, and you have hands and inside works. But how do you go? Sometimes too fast, and sometimes too slow. Does not the tongue sometimes go too fast or too slow? Are not the feet sometimes too fast or too slow? Are not the hands sometimes going wrong? How is this? Let us examine — though I am not the watchmaker — God is the watchmaker: the main-spring is the heart. Everything in you depends upon your "heart." God always looks most at the "heart." What do you think God will look at in the day of judgment? Your "heart." That is what He will want to know about. Now as it is so important to "keep the heart" right, I want to try to help you to do so, by giving you a little advice thereupon. " Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." One thing is to "keep" it as we "keep" a garden — neat. Now, then, if you would "keep" your garden, you must often look into it. And I will tell you what you will find there — every day there will grow lumps of weeds; however well you may have weeded it yesterday, you will find more weeds to-day. Pull them out! Then another thing — you must water it. This wants doing very often. Do you know what I mean? If not, look at the fourth of John, to what Jesus Christ said about water, and what it is. Bring the Holy Spirit into your heart. Pray that God will pour good thoughts — His grace — into your heart: that is water. If you want to "keep your heart," do not let there be any empty corners therein. God likes all boys and girls to be employed — sometimes at their lessons, sometimes at play; sometimes helping somebody, thinking, reading, or playing, to be always employed. I must tell you, if you do not always employ yourselves — if you are idle, and thinking about nothing, the devil is sure to come into your hearts. Another piece of advice I give you is this, be very particular whom you make your intimate friends. You must "keep your heart" from catching those evil desires that naughty boys and girls will suggest. One thing more. Have you not sometimes, when anybody has given you anything uncommonly valuable, taken it to your father, and said, " It is too precious for me to keep, I am afraid of losing it, do take care of it for me"? It is very wise for boys and girls to do this with their treasures. Oh, that you would do this with your heart! You cannot "keep" it yourself; therefore often take it to God: ask Him to keep your heart.

(J. Vaughan, M.A.)


The Issues of Life!
Proverbs 4:23 NKJV
“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
The Lord has, “abundance of life” planned for you that will bless your socks off… (Did you know that? Do you believe it? It is absolutely true!) He wants you to experience… not just being
average, but He wants you to experience… His Best! Are you pursuing, not just what you can do to scrape by, but are you living in God’s very best for your life?
The wisest man who ever lived, Solomon; gives to us an eternal principle… perhaps THE eternal principle to follow in this day that we live, that will bring about God’s best for our lives!
Here it is… are you ready? I really want you to get this:
“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” This powerful principle begins with an understanding of a key word here… the English word: heart. The Hebrew word that we translate into English as heart, literally means the following:
Feelings, will and Intellect! So, here is the Biblical instruction that will change your life:
“Keep… guard… watch over… protect… your feelings! Don’t let them get the best of you!” Yet, our culture… the worldly environment in which we live today… is now guided, directed,
and considers as truth, simply what their feelings say to them at any given moment! Living only by your feelings invites disaster! (Mother kills children in “Exorcism” article…) To receive God’s best for our lives, we must “keep guard” over our feelings, and make them
subjected to the Lordship of Jesus Christ! (Come on, say Amen… you know it’s true!)
Over the next weeks, we are going to consider our feelings, and how to understand them…
and how to submit them to the Lordship of Christ, as we receive God’s best for our lives found in serving Jesus!
Here we go, considering a feeling we all struggle with from time to time…
WORRY… anxiety over potential problems!
What did Jesus say about worry? Let’s read Matthew 6: 25- 34
2 Jesus said: “Do not set your thoughts on tomorrow…” Let’s break that down into an understanding we can deal with:
Does anybody here remember when television was basically three channels? I do! ABC, CBS, NBC, and that was it! Today there are…. Hundreds of channels! Maybe thousands of channels!
All of us as human beings have basically three channels we focus on… yesterday, today and tomorrow! Channels 1, 2 and 3!
Lots of people live on channel 1… Yesterday!(Chanel #1 Picture) Always talking about the past! Some continually beat themselves up about how they wish they could have done something
different in the past! But, the past is gone! No one can do anything about what has already transpired! Living in the past only brings about frustration and hopelessness because, no one can
change the past! It’s a dead end street that we waste lots of time, and energy on!


But Lots more people live on channel 3… tomorrow!(Chanel #3 Picture) Always worrying about the future! Trying to control what they cannot control! Let me be as honest as I can about
the 3 things people most worry about: Health… family… finances! We must come to grips with a few facts: -I cannot control the future of what will happen to my health! Let’s be real, I cannot control everything about my health, and neither can you! I might wind up with disease… I might wind up in a care facility… I might wind up with dentures! It is not within my ability to control exactly what happens with my health…
-I cannot control my family’s future! I cannot control my adult children! Or my Grandchildren! They will have to make their own choices! I do not know exactly what the future will hold for them! They may make some bad choices! I cannot control my financial future! The economy might crash… my stocks might become
worth much less tomorrow than they are today… I might fall prey to identity theft! However… though I cannot control the future…(Here’s where what Jesus said kicks in…)
I can control what I choose to do… today(Chanel #2 Picture)
-Concerning my health…I can choose to exercise, today! I can choose to eat right! (Cut out the
Ding-Dongs and doughnuts!) I can choose today to lose weight! These things affect the future!


3 -Concerning my family’s future… I can choose to love them today! I can display righteousness before them, today! I can fill them with God’s Word and principles! I can teach them to put the
Lord first and make right choices, today and it will positively affect the future!
-Concerning my finances… I can honor God, and sow good seed financially, today! I can
choose to tithe and be a giver today! I can choose to be generous, a cheerful giver today! I WILL then reap what I have sown and affect the future!
To avoid being overcome with worry, I must choose to focus most of my time, effort & energy, living today… on channel 2! (Chanel #2 Picture) Are you living today, or obsessed with
tomorrow? If you choose to live on channel 3, and worry about the future, it keeps us from doing what we CAN do, today to improve the future!
Worry is Concern over what we cannot control about tomorrow!
NEWS FLASH! You can control what you choose to do… today! Stay on channel 2!
Are you fixated on channel 3? STOP! Guard your feelings! Choose to do what you can do…
today!

Is worry a problem? Come today and ask Jesus to set your focus on what you can do…today,
and trust Him for tomorrow!

Guard your feelings!



What it is to Guard the Heart

It is really very clear what it means to "keep your heart," but the admonition does deserve some unpacking. What does it require of us?

The first thing that strikes you about the command is its negative slant. It implies some kind of evil, some kind of adversary, some kind of opposition. Clearly, it demands that we protect our hearts against things such as sensualism, covetousness, materialism, greed, pride, bitterness, anxiety, rebellion, defiance, self pity. All these are obvious. But surely there is more. Does it not also demand that we be careful not to allow our hearts to be drawn away from the Lord by "harmless" distractions? Our love for leisure, things, toys, recreations, hobbies -- so many things -- can cause us to "leave our first love" (Rev. 2:4). The wise man's point is that we must give our energies and attention to making sure these things do not so occupy our minds or captivate our desires and ambitions that we forget the higher priority of loving and serving God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. A Christian man is not like other men. He has higher thoughts, higher desires, higher priorities, higher goals and ambitions. And while the world offers many harmless and enjoyable things, we must recognize that they are all dangerous. They may lead us to forget Him. The apostle John's command, "My little children, depart from idols" (1 Jn. 5:21), assumes this exactly. "An evil heart of unbelief" may quickly arise in a heart that is "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb. 3:12-13).

What this means, in plain words, is that we must watch very carefully over those things that would influence our minds. It is easy to allow the world to desensitize us in regards to sinful things. And a deceiving heart (Jeremiah 17:9) will take advantage of any situation to exploit it for sinful pleasures. We must watch against all this, and give ourselves to constant alertness against anything that would draw us away.

But there is a positive side to this also. How better to protect our hearts from evil than by being careful to bring it under the influence of "wisdom"? Protecting our minds is not merely a negative activity, it is a positive one. We must "program" our minds by the Word of God. Let it "dwell in our hearts richly" (Col. 3:16). We must "think on these things" that are "true, noble, just, pure, lovely" (Phil. 4:8). That is to say, we must bring our minds under the influence of what God has said. This is the constant exhortations the Scriptures make to us. And it promises that as we do we will be successful.

But more specifically than that, we must "set our affections on things above" (Col. 3:1), on Christ Himself. As He is the highest object of our affections and ambitions, our heart is "kept" stronger than ever.

Application

So, what have you done this week to protect your heart? I'm sure you may well have done much to exercise and protect your body. But what about your heart? What are the things you have allowed to influence your mind?

Proper heart protection does not just happen. We must "exercise ourselves rather unto godliness" (1 Tim. 4:7), and determine that by the means of grace God has given us -- the Word of God, prayer, meditation on the things of Christ, Christian fellowship, by these things -- we will keep our hearts only for Him.

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