Title: Guarding the Heart/ Topic: Discipline

Today’s Reading: Proverbs 4; Proverbs 5; Proverbs 6; Romans 8

Scripture: Proverbs 4:23
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Observation: I love the Proverbs. They are so full of practical wisdom. This verse tells me that my primary responsibility is to guard my heart. The reason is that it is the fountainhead (source) of the decisions I make in my life. If I allow my heart to become devoted to the wrong things then I will have a very difficult time making godly choices, even though I may know in my mind that what I'm choosing goes against what is right according to God. This is why there are so many warnings in the Bible not to get intimate with a non-believer in a romantic relationship or to set our hearts on money and what it can provide. When we haven't guarded our heart properly, we will almost always choose what we have become devoted to over the principles taught in the Word. We will stay with a person who is wrong for us or we will let money master us instead of God.

Application: I MUST guard my heart! All of us fall short of the glory of God and commit sins. But if we don't guard our heart we are likely to stay perpetually in an area of sin instead of having momentary lapses into it. Repentance is called for in both situations, but it repentance comes much harder and is much more painful when we have remained in sin due to not guarding our hearts than if we have succumbed to a momentary temptation. Having our hearts totally devoted to God is the best protection against unrighteousness.

Prayer: Lord, I give you my heart and I do not want it back. I want to be totally devoted to you and to only let things in my heart that you approve of. May I be instantly repentant when I do sin. Thank you for being just and for forgiving me all of my trespasses when I confess them to you. Keep me holy as I take my responsibility to guard my heart.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.