The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 19:14 (NKJV), "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer."
Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4:23 (NKJV), "Keep ["watch over" - NASB, "guard" NIV] your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life."
A few of the most secure places in the entire world are here in America. One of those is Air Force One which, of course, transports the President of the United States from place to place.
There is also Area 51 which is a top secret Air Force base located in a remote part of Lincoln County in Southern Nevada. Hey it is so secretive that some in the military still refuse to acknowledge that it does exist. And then there is, of course, Fort Knox which is the home of America's gold reserve and which is so protected and fortified it could endure a nuclear blast.
Now, I guess I understand the reason that these places and others around the world are so secure, guarded, and protected, because they are deemed to be so important. But there is another place which needs to be better guarded and protected than all these places combined. It needs to be the most secure place in the whole world because it is the most important place in the whole world. What is this place? This place is our heart!!!
Why is our heart so important? why did Solomon exhort us to "keep, watch over, or guard" it "with all diligence"? The word "heart" is found 963 times in the Bible. There are a variety of meanings in these many usages including: the mind, the seat of the emotions, the will, the inner man, and even a reference to the person as a whole.
The most important point is that the Lord looks upon and considers the heart more than anything else: 1 Samuel 16:7b (NKJV) says, "The LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." Psalm 44:21 (NKJV) says, "'Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart."
Think of the heart as the incubator from which all of our actions, attitudes, ambitions, and articulations are hatched. When Solomon encourages us to "keep, watch over, or guard" our hearts, he is implying that we ought to do so above all other things!!!
Jesus expressed the reason for this diligence of protecting our heart above all other things when He said, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." (Matthew 15:18-20 NKJ'V)
We need to "keep, watch over, guard" our hearts above all other things! We should commune with our own heart by meditating upon the Lord and His Word, by examining our heart, our motives, our attitudes, and our actions. We should ask the Spirit of the Lord to reveal to us any unclean thing that may have entered our heart and planted a seed or a bitter root. The heart is a precious place. We must "keep, watch over, guard" our heart with all diligence, and allow this Jesus to be the Lord of our heart, If He is Lord of our heart, He will be the Lord of our lives! May God Bless us all and help us to protect our hearts!
In His Loving Service,
Vernon