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

What many of us don’t know, is we have a heart condition. Now I’m not talking about a medical heart condition but a spiritual one. The Bible tells us to “Guard our hearts, for everything flows from it” Now when the Bible talks about the heart its not talking about the physical organ in our bodies. The original Hebrew word here for heart is “Leb” meaning your inner core of yourself, your soul, your will.

This is why the gospel message of Christ is about a New Heart. Its not talking about a physical heart but the spiritual one. The world has an old saying to “Follow your heart” but is this a wise saying? The Bible tells us “The heart is deceptive” (Jeremiah 17:9) When we follow our hearts we typically are following our flesh, which can lead to destructive sin. This is why this Proverb tells us to Guard or Keep our hearts, don’t allow yourself to be enticed or deceived with sin

Jesus taught about the heart quit a bit , In Matthew 5 he says “If you look at a someone with lust you have already committed adultery in your heart” (Matthew 5:28) also “If you have hatred in your heart for someone you have already committed murder” (Matthew 5:21-22) Now these sound like extreme teachings by Christ but he is making a point. Our sin begins in our heart, this is why the Proverb teaches us to guard our hearts so we can avoid sin manifesting in it

Jesus also taught that “Our heart defiles us” (Matthew 15:18) when we allow the temptations of sin to creep into our hearts and grow, it defiles your soul. The Apostle James also taught on this subject, “When desire is conceived , it gives birth to sin, and then sin leads to death” (James 1:15) When we allow the temptations of our heart to give birth to sin, it leads to our destruction.

This is why you should guard your heart, for everything flows from it. Guard your heart from drugs and alcohol, guard your heart from pornography, guard your heart from violence because all these things lead to your destruction Amen!