Today's promise: God delights in those
who honor Him
The Heart Affects
Everything
Above all else, guard
your heart, for it affects everything you do.
Proverbs 4:23 NLT
Let us learn to cast our hearts into God.
Bernard of Clairvaux
Guard the inside
If you're typical, you
think of guarding your heart in terms of keeping things out. Corruption, false
ideas, temptations — all are to be held at arm's length, never to be allowed in
the inner depths of your affections. But there's another side to this
vigilance. We are to keep things in. In fact, if we can master that, the corruptions
and temptations will often take care of themselves.
Think about it: The
things that can assail a heart from the outside are innumerable, far too
overwhelming to manage. But the things we are told to keep within — the spirit
of Jesus, the humility and gentleness, the servant-hood and sacrifice, the
worship and thankfulness — these are one Spirit. Most religions tell us to
avoid the bad; God tells us to embrace Him. We are better equipped to focus on
His character than on the enemy's devices. Nowhere are we told to live against
the sinful nature and hope that the Spirit will show up. We're told to live by
the Spirit and expect the sinful nature to have no power. We often get confused
about that.
Too many Christians
guard the way into their hearts to keep things out. That may be appropriate at
times, but try a different approach. Guard the way out. Stand at the inside of
the gate, and be careful about what may be leaving. Once in a while, we get a
life-altering glimpse of true worship. By all means, keep it in! From time to
time, we'll see a picture of true servant-hood. Don't let that picture go! Hold
on to these things! Treasuring the wellspring that God has birthed in your
heart will leave little room for those corruptions you once obsessed over. And
the wellspring is a much more pleasant preoccupation.
Adapted from The One Year® Walk with God Devotional by
Chris Tiegreen, Tyndale House Publishers (2004), entry for May 10.
Content is derived
from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale
Publishing House
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