Above All Else Guard Your Heart
Studies say the average person checks their phone around 200 times a day — that’s about once every four minutes. The average teenager now spends about nine hours a day on devices. Many people now spend more time each day interacting with screens than interacting face-to-face with people. I know that all of us feel the struggle in some way. Technology can be a blessing, but it can also become a distraction. I’m convinced, however, that there’s a bigger question that we need to consider more than just whether technology is good or bad for us. Each of us needs to ask: What are we allowing to shape our hearts?
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flows the wellspring of life.” Our thoughts, words, actions, and choices all flow from what is happening deep inside of us. That’s why it’s so important to guard our hearts. The heart is the control center of our lives. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” That means when bitterness, anger, gossip, or impurity come pouring out of us, the real issue is not just behavior, and it’s not the people or problems around us — it’s the condition of our heart.
Imagine I take a cup of water and shake it until water splashes out. If I asked you, “Why did the water splash out?" You would probably answer - “Because you shook it!” But if I asked you, “Why did water come out?” Because that’s what was in the cup. When people, circumstances, and situations in life shake us, whatever comes out of us reveals what was already in us.
Scripture is clear that we have to be careful what we allow our hearts to be shaped by. Are we being shaped by God’s Word, or by the people and influences of the world around us? We have to guard our hearts. The word for “guard” in Proverbs 4 was often used in military contexts where a soldier was responsible for keeping watch over and guarding a city gate. They would ensure that citizens were allowed in, but enemies were not. We can guard our hearts in similar ways. There are some things that we allow in, and some things that we don’t. Psalm 119:11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Are you storing up God’s Word in your heart? Are you being formed and shaped by it? I encourage you to pray as David prayed in Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous way in me.”
-Jared