Today's Devotional

June 10, 2005

Subject:  An Un-kept Heart

Proverbs 4:23 - "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."

So instead of using the current term to describe people as having "issues," we could correctly say that they or we have "heart problems." 

Jeremiah 17:9 says that "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked..."  It then goes on to ask, "who can know it?"  I know that I can't know it, yet I am admonished to keep my heart with all diligence.  So what's up with that?  Here's what's up with that.

Because our hearts are in fact deceitful and wicked, looking to lead us astray at every turn, we should be inclined to protect it from those things that would cause us to be lost more easily to the deception.   A classic example is the recovering alcoholic who likes to hang out in the bar.  He is not keeping his heart and therefore, he will create for himself, the issues of life.  The same goes for the guy or girl with sexual lust who watches lots of entertainment (non-educational) television these days, since it all is pretty heavy-laden with sexual marketing.  That person has opened their heart to the influences that will ultimately create the issues of life.

Most people excuse their acts with the old line, "well God knows my heart."  You're right and he says that it is desperately wicked.  In view of that, we should with all diligence, "keep" and protect this most prized asset.  After all, out of it flow the issues of life and in many ways death.     

Carlen