February 20: “Guard Your Heart” by Kathy Owen
Proverbs 4:23, NLT “Above all else guard your heart, for it determines the course of your life.”
Imagine what would happen if you set off on a trip with no map, no WAZE, and no clues about how to reach your destination. How would it work if you closed your eyes and said, “I’m just going to follow my heart! I’ll trust my feelings to let me know which direction to head and where to turn along the way!?”
This is the predicament in which many people find themselves today. Having rejected the existence of truth and objective reality, what is left? Emotionalism: The belief that you should just follow your heart, that you can trust your emotions, and that you really can’t change the way you feel, anyway. Does God’s Word speak to these ideas?
Yes, the Bible has much to say about your heart. In Proverbs 4:23, King Solomon begins, “Above all else...” as if to say, “So far in this book I’ve been telling you a lot of good things about how to live your life, but listen closely now, because this is most important: Guard your heart.” Why? Because your heart is under constant attack. In the same way that Adam and Eve fell captive to the lies of Satan in the Garden of Eden, you also are under attack. Like Abraham. Like David. Like Moses. Like Peter. You too are vulnerable to Satan’s attacks.
You are also to guard your heart because you are vulnerable to your own capacity for self-deception. Jeremiah explains, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9, NIV). Your heart lies to you all the time! If your heart is not guarded by the truth of God’s word and your love for Him, your heart cannot be trusted.
Pride was the seed that took root in the heart of Satan and led him to rebel against God. When pride takes root in the human heart, every kind of sin and disobedience may follow. Thankfully, the help we need is ours for the taking. God promised His people, “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” (Ezekiel 36:26, NLT). How comforting!
What is the condition of your heart today? Is it tender and responsive? Is your heart turned towards God with faith and humility, or is it turned away in stubbornness and pride?
Father in Heaven, thank You for the wisdom of Your Word, convicting and challenging me, but also giv- ing me direction and protection. Today I commit my heart to You. I ask You to give me a new heart and a new spirit. Direct the course of my life according to Your will and for Your glory. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
