Proverbs 4:23: “Keep your heart with all diligence, / For out of it spring the issues of life.”

June 8th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Although the human heart is basically a pump that maintains the circulation of blood in the body, we still speak metaphorically of it as the place where love and deep feelings come from. To the Hebrew way of thinking, the heart was the center of feelings, intellect, and will. The Greeks used the word heart to mean the part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. The Romans, in Latin, spoke of the kardia (heart), meaning the place where thoughts and feelings of the soul and mind reside. The Amplified Bible translation of this verse is clearer when it says, “Above all guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.”

An old Sunday School fable says that a mouse was in constant distress because of his fear of the cat, so he prayed that God would change him into something else. God took pity on him and turned him into a cat. Immediately he became afraid of the dog. He prayed again, so God turned him into a dog. Immediately he began to fear the tiger. He prayed again, and God turned him into a tiger. Immediately he began to fear the hunter. Then God said, “No matter what you become, you still have the heart of a mouse. Be a mouse again, and let Me change your heart, nothing else will help.”

Once God has changed our hearts, how do we keep them in good health? Just as we are careful about what we eat, knowing that it might negatively affect our physical heart, so we keep our spiritual heart in good health by watching what we allow into our lives. And just as we exercise our physical heart, so we exercise our spiritual heart by reading the Word, fellowshipping with other believers, and finding opportunities to serve.

“LORD, we have received a new heart from You, so help us to keep it in good health today by taking in Your good Word and keeping out harmful entertainment.”