The Heart – Proverbs 4:20-27

My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you. Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil.

Embedded in today’s passage is a verse which has become true north on my spirtual compass; “Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts.” That is how the Message puts it. My heart has been entrusted to me to watch over for a brief season. It is the talent I can bury or invest. If you read The Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-21, particularly Jesus’ punch line, you will understand my incentive …

For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

My heart was unknown to me until 1976 when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. I didn’t understand it in the moment, but I had abandoned my heart to God as his Son’s residence on earth. Christ had come and occupied the house which had been haunted. The dark spirits were evicted and the Holy Spirit moved in. It was the ultimate flip. I had a new heart! To my astonishment I had become born again, a concept that may have escaped the Denominationarians, who oversaw my Communicant’s Class.

Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again. John 3:7

My new heart was enveloped in an atmosphere of OMG. I was living at a very high altitude and I loved the view. I had never seen vistas like this before. Having been the quintessential ne’er-do-well, I vowed to walk the straight and narrow path lest I fall back down into the dark misery of my recent past. In God’s word, I learned how to take my first steps …

When you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them (God’s words) on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 11:19-20

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Joshua 1:8

And then, there is a verse from today’s passage …

 Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left.

I came into the kingdom knowing, as well as anyone, how much God loved me. Yet, as I took one step after another, my joyful OMG waned and was replaced with an, “OMG, I am standing on a tightrope at an impossible height!” To walk, I believed I must have God’s word going on in surround-sound. I must diligently watch over my heart with exacting obedience lest I come off the rope. Even in the presence of a very personal assurance from God that he would pick me up, I walked as though the fall would kill me.

When I say that I have a personal relationship with God, that statement involves, to a large extent, his rescues. They have been numerous and humbling. I have learned something valuable though as I have walked, and stumbled – I’m no tightrope walker. That is for sure. But all is not lost, because for those who are in Christ, the rope has been cut. Our safety does not depend on our balancing act. Right here, we enter more deeply into the mystery, because we must still watch over our hearts and invest our precious talent. Keeping my balance though today is so different than it was then.

Today, when I feel I am about to fall, when my knees bend and my arms extend, I remind myself that Christ is my life. My life is not dependent on improving my old one. That old life is buried in Christ. The man who walks today has been raised up in Christ. He knows it because of decades of falling and having been picked up. If I feel shaky today, I still go to God’s word but not in a feverish, white-knuckled fear of falling. I protect my heart from these fiery fear-laden darts with Christ-centered truths, such as …

                                         In him we live and move and have our being. Acts 17:28

Right at this point, the religious spirit says, “Knowing the net is there will give license to him who walks, to cavort and spin and walk without righteous principle.” False. In him whose heart is occupied by Christ, there is a predisposition to righteousness. The born again heart instinctively thirsts for it. The Spirit who convicts us of righteousness would describe the narrow path differently. Please listen …

He stood me up on a wide-open field; I stood there saved—surprised to be loved! Psalm 18:19  The Message

I knew this when I first encountered Jesus yet I strayed onto the tightrope of religion – believing my acceptance and security rest in my balancing skills. Loving God with all our hearts, watching over our hearts, investing them in the kingdom has much to do with rest and little to do with work. It is likely though that we must experience the tightrope in order to discover the love and security of the wide open field. Mary (Martha’s sister) has taught more than anyone about walking.

Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. (from Luke 10)

Mary invested her heart wisely. She knew, even then, that everything really does depend upon Christ alone. A song comes to mind …

My hope is built on nothing less / Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; / I dare not trust the sweetest frame, / But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. / On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; / All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face, / I rest on His unchanging grace; / In every high and stormy gale / My anchor holds within the veil. / On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; / All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, His covenant, and blood / Support me in the whelming flood; / When every earthly prop gives way, / He then is all my Hope and Stay. / On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; / All other ground is sinking sand.

When He shall come with trumpet sound, / Oh, may I then in Him be found, / Clothed in His righteousness alone, / Faultless to stand before the throne! / On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

Father,

Lead us to that wide open field where we are delivered from our fear of falling and we discover that your life is our life and that, regardless of our circumstances, you are our broad, safe foundation which cannot fail. You shall have your victory. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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