I’m getting ready for this Thursday’s talk entitled “Above All Else.”

Proverbs 4:23
“Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.”

I’ve been thinking about the relationship between a guarded heart and a renewed mind.  Given that the wisest of wisest men, King Solomon, gave this directive in Proverbs, it gives me reason enough to pause and to consider what it means to guard my heart.

Elsewhere in the Bible we are told to guard our eyes (Job 31:1), to guard our tongues (Psalm 34:13), and to guard our feet (Ecclesiastes 5:1).  Yet, the one thing we are told to guard above all else is our heart because out of it flows the wellspring of life.  I think there are a lot of reasons why I must keep my heart with more care and diligence than my eyes, tongue, and feet.  Jesus says that my treasure is wherever my heart is.  It would make sense then that my eyes, tongue, and feet will follow wherever my heart is.

I believe that guarding my heart is a matter of having the mind of Christ–this is the connection between a guarded heart and a renewed mind.

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For now, I’m camping out on this thought:   A neglected heart leads to a neglected life; a guarded heart leads to abudnant life.