“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life,” (Proverbs 4:23).
Your heart is a muscle that keeps the body functioning. If your heart stops working, then the body stops operating.
Keep means to maintain and Vigilance means to carefully watch over. “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour” (Matthew 24:42).
So, could it be that the heart does more than pumps life into a body? In fact, can the heart operate thoughts, which may lead to actions? John 13:12 explains how the devil came into Judas’s heart before he betrayed Jesus. This gives us a glimpse of what an unguarded heart looks like and how it can lead to destruction. “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45).
What we allow into our heart, whether it is the shows or movies that we watch, the music that we listen to, or the company that we keep around us, will produce either good or bad fruit. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your entire body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your entire body will be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:22).
The scripture also states, “From it flows the springs of life.” Your whole life rest within your heart; the innermost precious emotions, thoughts, and desires that only God and you know about. If the enemy gains access to the heart, then it is very important to understand that the heart can be “misleading” to you when affected. Jesus reveals that the heart can be “desperately wicked,” and then asked, “Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17.9)
However, Jesus also states that “Blessed are the pure heart, for they will see God.”
Therefore, for our heart to remain pure in the eyes of the Lord, we must guard it and protect it from the enemy and from worldly influences. “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person” (Matthew 15:18).
So, what does the bible mean when it tells us to guard our heart?
Guarding your heart means being ready.
If Moses didn’t trust God with his heart in Exodus 3, then he would have never reaped the promise in Exodus 14. A guarded heart allows us to hear God’s voice and to be ready to be commissioned by Him. If Peter and Andrew allowed the religious doctrine from the Pharisees to harden their heart, then they would have missed Jesus’s follow me call. Their obedience brought millions of souls to Christ.
Guarding your heart means being humble.
If David didn’t humble himself when he sinned against God and man, then he wouldn’t have experienced God’s mercy. A guarded heart leads humans to repentance and humility and urges them to take full responsibility for their actions. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you,” said David (Psalms 119:11).
Guarding your heart means to Surrender.
“Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent then, free of fault, you will lift up your face; you will stand firm and without fear. You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety,” (Job 11:13-18).
In conclusion, Christians should protect their heart from unholy and unrighteous filth that does not bless the kingdom of heaven. “What is done on earth, it is done in heaven.” The Lord knows that the heart is the source of all decision-making and if unrighteousness gain access to it, then our trust in God may become weary and doubtful, which may lead One down a sinful path. The Lord wants us to give him our heart so we can experience His glory and live a life full of abundance.