It May Not Be What You Think

If you have been a Christian any length of time, you have probably heard the phrase ‘guard your heart’. This is from Proverbs 4: 23. The Book of Proverbs is wisdom from God to teach us how to walk in the fear of the Lord in everything. It teaches us how to love God above all and others as self practically. Guarding or watching over our hearts is walking in wisdom. 

An Essential & Wise Practice

The word heart as used in Proverbs 4:23 (and in the scriptures in general) refers to the inner man, the mind, the seat of our will, emotions, purposes, thoughts, etc. Indeed, from our hearts ‘flow the springs of life’. Sin is also manufactured in our hearts (recall Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 15:18-20). Can you see the implications and gravity of not watching over our hearts? The state of our hearts affects everything else in our lives both on the spiritual and physical levels.

How to Guard Your Heart?

I used to think of ‘guarding my heart’ primarily as protecting it from being hurt by other people. Sure, it may be necessary to sever certain relationships at times but the focus of protecting our hearts is not on others but on self. It is more about looking at the log in our eyes than examining how others may hurt us. In other words, we protect our hearts from our own flesh. I believe the verses following Proverbs 4:23 explain this:

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.
Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.
Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.
Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. (Proverbs 4:23-27)

1. Watch Your Mouth

Refrain from speaking crooked or devious things. This includes lying, deceiving, boasting, gossiping, and crude jokes. The list goes on. The entire Bible has many many strong warnings about unwholesome speech.

2. Watch Your Eyes

Pay attention to what we allow to enter our inner being (heart, mind). The source could be outside or inward sinful thoughts. The idea in verse 25 is to discipline ourselves to cut off any outside or inward evil that would take sit in our hearts.

3. Watch Your Path

Don't be a thoughtless fool walking with no prudence, ignoring their own weaknesses (or minimizing them). Instead, consider each step and ask yourself questions: is this evil? Is this walking in the fear of the Lord? Is this loving my neighbor as self? Is this opening the door to sin? The answer might not be clear right away. That's why we ponder the path of our feet. We must be vigilant and sober-minded, being very careful to avoid evil/sin because of the fear of the Lord.

In summary:

To Guard my heart I must watch what comes out (what I say), watch what comes into my heart and mind, and watch where I go and what I do; and do these with all vigilance. We are going to get it wrong. If we didn't we would not need God to teach us. But oh the amount of pain and sorrow I would have avoided had I walked this way more diligently. 

As we seek to apply this, we must keep in mind that, as believers, we do this because we want to Honor our Father, not because we think that's how we buy his favor or bribe him into giving us what we want. In Christ, we are already most beloved and Christ has earned for us all the Spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. Lastly, let us not forget that we cannot do anything good and spiritually forming apart from God's Spirit in us.