Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well-spring of life. (Proverbs 4:23)
He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be kept safe. (Proverbs 28:26)
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways. (Proverbs 23:26)
On February 14 of each year, we celebrate Valentine’s Day, and stores are filled with a seemingly infinite variety of items that are red, heart-shaped, or carry messages of love—everything from bonbons to boxer shorts. It’s a celebration of the motivations of the heart.
Clearly, the heart is a whole lot more than that incredible machine inside our chests which pumps enough blood in an average lifetime to fill a string of railroad tank cars fifty miles long. In this context, it is the center of our affections, the core of our being; and we recognize its importance. We talk of a good heart, a soft heart, a hard heart, a big heart, a broken heart, a tender heart, a kind heart, an evil heart, and a heart for God.
Wisdom dictates that this center of our feelings and affections be managed well, or it can lead us into big trouble. The Scriptures describe what could be called “spiritual heart disease”—lethal symptoms coming from a heart that is not attuned to God’s law and character.
The most common symptom of this heart disease is illicit relationships. If the seat of our feelings/emotions is not guarded, it will lead us into affairs of the heart. We will lust after beauty, wealth, power, perversity, or our neighbor’s spouse. This is why we are to watch over it “with diligence.”
Principle: An unguarded heart will destroy your life and run away with your soul.
We humans have been given three guidance systems—a spirit, a brain, and a heart. The spirit is expressed in the conscience, reason in the brain, and emotions in the heart. It is absolutely essential that power be given to each in this order of priority. A person whose brain gets ahead of his conscience will become an intelligent evildoer, and one whose heart gets ahead of both will become a catastrophe of feelings-directed, immoral foolishness. This is why Proverbs declares it foolhardy to trust your heart. Wisdom is living by spirit-guided reason, regardless of what the heart says.
Principle: The road to destruction meanders through three cities: Heart, Mind, and Spirit… and stays too long in Heart. The road to life goes directly to the Spirit—in the same township as Mind.
The only successful way to live is to surrender one’s heart to God. He made it and promises to give us its desires as a reward for obedience.
Principle: Only the heart surrendered to God realizes its deepest desires; self-managed hearts get broken and break the hearts of others.
[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]