Guard Your Heart

June 06, 2017 | By Chuck

Guard your heart. We hear the phrase "guard your heart" passed on as good advice from one Christian to another or on Sunday from the Bible class teacher. I believe guarding your heart is good advice that we should all adhere to. In fact, it's a Biblical concept. "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."(Prov.4:23) But what exactly does it mean? Truth is, you and I need to know specifically what it means to guard our heart, if we plan to do so effectively. There are three specific ways in which we guard our heart according to the wise and inspired words of Proverbs 4:24-27. First of all, we guard our hearts by cautiously guarding the words that cross through our lips. "Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips."(Prov.4:24) As God's people we need to avoid perverse and corrupt language at all costs. God expects more of His children. We also guard our heart by guarding our eyes. "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you."(Prov.4:25) We are bombarded with many ungodly images today. As Christians we must be careful what we allow into our hearts through our eyes. We must do what it takes to guard our heart by not allowing our eyes to view junk. "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl."(Job 31:1) Finally, we guard our hearts by guarding our path. "Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil."(Prov.4:26-27) We can't just choose any path in this life if we plan to be faithful to God. Satan will make sure there are plenty of path options that will lead us away from God and to evil. Every single day the Christian must cautiously and prayerfully choose his or her path with the intent of growing closer to God. We guard our hearts by choosing the right path each day. Let's be careful how we speak and careful what we view and carefully choose the right path daily so that we can guard our hearts for the Lord.