This and That: Keeping the heart.

This and That – Heart Problems

Gen 6:5  The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  ESV
Mat 15:19  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.  ESV

Jas 1:26  If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.  ESV

I’m working on a bigger piece about our hearts and how it is so very important that we “keep” or “guard” them.  We need to take on the responsibility of doing this much more than we do.

Pro 4:23  Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.  ESV

The word “keep” here means to guard or protect.  It carries the idea of protecting, preserving and maintaining something entrusted to us.  And indeed we have been entrusted with a great gift.

Eze 36:26  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  ESV

Though our heart is new it is still subject to our old ways – our flesh.  Having a new heart does not automatically erase all our old pleasures, desires, wants or weaknesses.  It is a new heart in an old bag of bones.

Ever bought a new shiny car?   I get a kick out or people and how protective they can be.  They take up two parking spaces, they don’t drive in the rain or snow, they try to not part under trees of power lines.  They do everything they can to keep the car as pristine as possible.  But I’ve also noticed that once they ge that first ding their commitment to keeping that car pristine waxes.  It’s like, “Oh well – never mind.”

We do that with our new hearts.  Certainly we keep our hearts away from the BIGGIES we indulged in but we don’t notice the little dings and dents.  This is not a good thing.

We make a great show of admiring purity but do we really?  A bride who has slept with her groom before the wedding (or slept with somebody) will typically still want to wear white.  We are consumed with looking the part – the pure part – but how concerned are we about actual purity?
coat will we tolerate before we take it to Goodwill?

We have “dress” clothes that we wear when we want to impress and we have grubbies we wear when we’re cleaning out the storage room.  We don’t want to blemish our dress clothes so we have others we don’t care if we blemish or not.

Remember when you were a kid and you got a new article of clothing and your Mom wouldn’t let you wear it except a certain times because whe didn’t want you to ruin it?  Remember how she freaked when you got something on it?

So, how’s the new heart?  There isn’t anything more preciouse in all of creation.  Got a few stains here and there?  Maybe they’re not visible but they’re there – right?

David prayed,
Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  ESV
That “clean” means pure.  It is a pure heart that we have been given – how well have we done in keeping it that way?

If you’re like me you know well that we don’t do a very good job.  Of course we also know that:
1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  ESV

But do you realize that this verse is right between:
1Jn 1:8  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  ESV
And
1Jn 1:10  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  ESV

What will it take for us to see the keeping of our new hearts as the most fundamental of our Christian duties?  How can we come to the point where we make it our consuming passion to honor God by keeping/guarding this precious gift He has so graciously given us?  When will we be sensitive enough to be as repulsed by a small stain on our new hearts as we are about a small ding on our new car or a small stain on our new shirt?

When we make keeping/guarding our hearts a matter of paramount importance in our prayers, asking God to convict us that we might guard our hearts, begging Him for the sensitivity to perceive that attacks and threats – then we will have begun.  I believe that when we begin to take this matter to Him and seek His power and guidance He will provide it.  But as long as we remain comfortably complacent our hearts will suffer – and hence our walk will suffer – and in this, the glory and honor of God will suffer.