Title
The Essence of the Heart
Scripture
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.
(Proverbs 4:23)
Devotional
Metaphorically speaking, the heart is the essence of our being, emotions, and intelligence. It is the storehouse of our deepest emotions and beliefs. The heart is the throne of our conscience and imagination. To guard it we need the strength of wisdom. The prophet Jeremiah warns, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”(1) He gives the answer in the following verse, “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”(2)
The key to keeping your heart is to respond with patience. Since the heart is a wellspring of emotions, its first reaction may not be filled with all of its wisdom, for we wear our emotions on the surface of the heart. Intelligence and conscience are the deep issues of the heart. To keep our hearts, patience must be its first line of defense.
(1) Jeremiah 17:9, (2) Jeremiah 17:10
Text For The Day
Proverbs 4:23: Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
Thought For The Day
“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line dividing good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart.” Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
Questions To Ponder
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Consider: God’s Word is directed for God’s people and how they are to live. Therefore, in our text is He speaking to the believer?
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What are, “The issues of life?”
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How do we keep our hearts? Consider Jeremiah 17:9-10.
Morning Study Guide
Definition: In the Bible the heart is used as a metaphor to refer to the moral core of mankind including the intellect and not just the emotion. This is true from the earliest passages; Genesis 6:5, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Reference: “Jesus said…‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38
Application: Love on purpose. If you don’t know how, read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.