Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. – Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. – Proverbs 4:23 (KJV)

Theme:  Living According to God’s Word

This week’s verse kicked off our “God’s Life Hacks” series last year, and it offers us both
guidance and a simple truth.
The guidance: we need to make protecting our hearts a top priority in our lives.
The simple truth: what’s in our hearts affects every single thing that we do.

So, what does it mean to “guard your heart?”  I think it means to fill our hearts and minds with Godly things and reject the things we know are not pleasing to Him.  Everything we see, hear, think, and do shapes our heart — it influences how we perceive and respond to the people and situations we encounter every day.  A heart filled with God’s love, kindness, virtue, compassion, and wisdom lives a different, and more fruitful, life than a heart filled with hate, rudeness, immorality, selfishness, and foolishness.

Unfortunately, guarding our hearts is not easy to do today.  Everywhere we turn — music, TV, YouTube, social media, even some of our friends — we’re surrounded by opportunities to see, hear, and do things that fill our hearts with the wrong content.  That’s why it’s so important that we actively reject these temptations and replace them with God’s goodness.
“…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” – Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

We must diligently guard our heart…absolutely everything we do “flows from it.”

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