The Heart of the Matter

Guard your heart above all else,

for it determines the course of your life “ (Proverbs 4:23 NLT)

I like to share a brief testimony that deals with the issue of the heart. I struggled as a Christian with various habits.  I knew I was free from these things in Christ but I wasn't experiencing that freedom. Until I realised that I was allowing things into my heart that don't belong there; Messages and images that reinforced such behavioural patterns. The admonition to guard your heart is key. The bible teaches that as a man thinks in his heart so is he.

Jesus tells the parable of the sower who sows the word of the Gospel in different kinds of hearts; not heads or minds. The reason some reaped a harvest and others did not wasn't because the word isn't powerful, but because the word had no space to sink into the hearts or was choked by other things. What you allow to sink in your heart matters a lot. What you focus on will determine your life. Paul advised that we focus on the things above (Colossians 3). He also said we should only think on lovely, worthy of praise things. Guard your heart and fill it with the Gospel and you will bear it's fruit effortlessly, fill your heart with the contradictions and principles of this world and you will work the works of the flesh.