Proverbs 4:23 NKJV
23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.
We are to guard our hearts will all diligence, but the question is, what is the heart is Solomon referring to?
The Hebrew word used for the heart is the word LEB (labe)
It means, the inner man, the mind, the will, the understanding, moral character, the seat of our appetites, and the seat of emotions.
Pastor Timothy Keller describes the heart as:
“the seat of your deepest trust, commitments, and loves… What the heart most loves and trusts, the mind finds reasonable, the emotions find desirable, and the will finds doable.”
So in essence, the heart is the inner you. What you love, how you make decisions, your emotions, what you trust, and what you desire.
It is important for you to guard your heart with all diligence because out of your heart flows the springs of life!
But what does that mean?
It simply means that what you allow in your heart is what will come out of you and what comes out of you, will determine the quality of life you live.
Jesus put it this way:
Matthew 7:18
18 A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit, nor can a bad (diseased) tree bear [n]excellent fruit [worthy of admiration].
What is on the inside of you will determine the kind of fruit you bear in your life! With that in mind, then it makes sense that we must be vigilant about guarding our hearts. To be vigilant means: keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties. What we allow in our hearts will take root and eventually, it will determine the course and quality of our lives.
When we become careless then we will allow some things in our hearts and those things will brood and grow and at the right provocation we will spew them out only for someone to point out to us how our character has changed. You and I need to be vigilant to always check what’s in our hearts.
Like David, may we consistently pray this prayer:
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)
