May 4 - Today from Proverbs 4 we look at verse 23
"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (NIV)
"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." (KJV)
We cannot see the wind, yet we can learn much about it by observing its effects. We can discern its direction and its intensity simply by observing objects caught in its force - rolling clouds, bending trees, loose objects skipping and dancing in its path. Wind expedites the evaporation of water, and carries it far from its sources of origin. In John 3:8 Jesus uses the wind as an analogy for the Holy Spirit where He says, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." Historian and gospel writer, Dr. Luke, uses the same analogy when he describes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:2 - "Suddenly the sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting."
The wind. It is also a good analogy for the spirit of man - originally created in the image of God. Although we cannot see one's spirit, we can learn much from it by the effects it has on its surroundings. It does us well to remember that man is a spirit, he has a soul, and he lives in a body. In the materialistic, narcissistic culture of today, people are spending small fortunes on making their bodies more attractive and presentable while seemingly paying little attention to who they really are. The world can be deceived for a time, but eventually we can learn who a person really is by observing the effects of the objects caught in their force - the spirit. The body can be used as bait, but people are ultimately and finally attracted to, or repulsed by, the spirit. That is the message of this powerful little proverb. "Guard your heart."
There is no one else who can guard your heart except for yourself! Your pastor cannot guard your heart. Your parents cannot guard your heart. The US government cannot guard your heart. Even God himself cannot guard your heart. It belongs to you. It is you. You determine what your heart picks up as it travels the paths of life. By living for self, your heart gives evidence of being - a punishing force, an eroding wind in parched places, a carrier of deluges to already sodden grounds. By appropriating God’s grace, you can determine if your heart is to be like - a refreshing breeze, a bearer of life-giving rains in parched places, or an evaporating force where there are already damaging waters. The analogies represent the issues of life. You determine how you will affect the world around you in whatever situation you find yourself. God gives grace when you seek Him to affect it for the better, for His purposes.
Physical appearance is important to a point, but certainly is not to be the first in our priorities. No matter how much we spend on it, the body is corrupted and will eventually age, sag, wrinkle and die. But our spirit is eternal. It is in our heart that we gain eternal life in Christ, and become an outflow of that life to others. The body is to be under the control of, and an instrument of the heart. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:8, "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." Godliness is found in the heart of the believer. The evidence of Godliness is the effect one has on their environment.
When we first come to salvation in Christ, we often use the term; "I gave my heart to Jesus." Do you know who had it before you gave it to Jesus? Did you let Jesus keep it, or have you taken it back? Wisdom learns to guard the heart from control of it's greatest foe - the body of flesh in which it dwells. "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other." -Galatians 5:16, 17
Since Nov 08
About Me
- Ken
- While mentor-ing a couple of young men late in the year 2001 , I told them that if they agreed to read a chapter of Proverbs each week-day as a part of their devotions, I would choose one verse from the chapter and share a meditation by email. They agreed. I continued to write the meditations at my desk in my home for the next two and a half years. They began to forward them to their friends and I received requests from those friends to be placed on the email list. My personal email bundle was to about eighty people. Many of those people forwarded them to friends all over the country – and some over the world. Only the Lord knows how extensive the writings traveled. I am not a professional writer, and each meditation was spun off in a relatively short period of time during my own personal devotions in the morning. In April of 2004 I assembled 366 of the meditations into a calendar year. As I now bring up the Proverb of the Day to send on to my friends, I am surprised at how fresh each of them is to my own heart – and often how they speak to me in a completely different way than when I first wrote them. . . . . Ken Sweers
1 comment:
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