A Matter of the Heart
by Paula Davis
Remember that guy, Ananias, from the book of Acts, and his wife Sapphira? After holding back some of the proceeds from a possession he sold, Peter asked him a very interesting question: "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the lank for yourself?" Focus your attention on that little work, "why". Peter was asking him why this stuff was in his heart. In other words, Ananias, you have control over what goes into your heart! Why have you let this stuff in?
In Prov. 4:23, God admonishes us to "Keep your heart with all diligence." What does it mean to keep our hearts? I like to look at it this way: keep out the bad and keep in the good. I am a guard or a bouncer standing at the gateway to my heart, making sure everything that goes through is pure and good. If something tries to come in that is going to pollute my heart, the bouncer in me has to reject it or throw it out. These can be things like unforgiveness, negative words spoken against someone, bad thoughts, lewdness and the like.
Now why should we guard our hearts? Well, God tells us in that very same verse in Proverbs. "For out of it (our hearts) spring the issues of life." We all have "issues" in our lives, whether good or bad, but those "issues" don't come from our circumstances or what someone did or didn't do to or for us in the past. The proverb doesn't say, for out of your circumstances spring forth the issues of life. No, it's out of our heart. When we go through those circumstances, and whatever we have endured in the past, it is what we have allowed in our hearts during or after those times that determines our issues. It's a matter of the heart.
But take heart! We are the keepers, we are the guards. We can control what goes in and what needs to come out, with God's help. But how do things get in our hearts? I can think of 4 gateways to the heart: the eye gate, the ear gate, the mind gate and the mouth gate. In Rom 1:1, Paul beseeches the Roman church to present their bodies to God. We can do the same. Father, these eyes are Your eyes, they will look at what You want them to look at; these ears are Your ears, they will listen to what You want them to listen to; this mind is Your mind, it will think what You want it to think; this mouth is Your mouth, it will speak what You want it to speak!
The eye gate makes me think of the story of David and Bathsheba. David was not diligent to keep his heart because he didn't guard his eye gates. The issues he faced because of it were adultery, murder, and the fruit of it all was the death of their first born son. We may think, I want to grow closer to God and make a difference in this world. That might mean we need to keep some things out that are polluting our hearts through our eyes, like much that is on TV. The issues springing forth from TV are most likely not going to be things like spiritual growth and closeness with the Lord. In Ps 119:37, David prays, "Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way." Prov. 23:26 sums it up like this, "My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways." Let's give Him our hearts and observe His ways with our eyes.
The ear gate seems to be such a quick avenue to the heart. Did you know that spiritual things are actually imparted to us as we listen to what is being said? Paul note to the Ephesians in chapter 4:29 that speaking good thins will "impart grace to the hearers." Other things can be imparted to us as well, such as doubt or disrespect. We can start to become aware of what is being imparted to us. Hey, those words about so and so are not good; that will only breed in my heart disrespect for that person. I refuse to listen to that. I believe the best for that person and I will pray in the same manner. Words are like seeds being planted in our hearts. Let's plant God's words! We will not be disappointed with that harvest.
The mind gate is just a fancy way of saying our thoughts. The thoughts we think, what we dwell on, is another road to our hearts. Early on in my marriage I would let negative thoughts about my husband turn over and over in my mind. (He's lazy, he's selfish, if he really loved me he'd do this, and so on.) This was building resentment in my heart toward him, and there was the issue of rage inside me. When God clued me in to the destructive nature of my thoughts, I stopped dwelling on the negative and started thinking of him for his potential and how God designed him to be. My pastor used to say, you can't keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can surely keep it from building a nest in your hair. And if the thought keeps flying over, we can use our words, God's words, to keep them from setting up camp. My husband is a good man; he loves me and he loves God. A good guideline to keep us on the right path of thinking is found in Phil 4:8: things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy.
The mouth gate is very powerful. There is power in the spoken word. In Romans 10:9 and 10 Paul says, "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Our words play a part in our very salvation! At the same time our words can set "on fire the course of nature" according to James 3:6. And he's not talking about a good fire! Our words cant determine the course of our lives. Why? Because they go right into our hearts from which the issues of life spring forth. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." (Prov. 18:21) Let's choose life!
Without being paranoid, but with a little discernment, we can keep guard over our hearts. We also have the honor and responsibility to guard our children's hearts and train them to be good heart keepers as well. Just think, we can have God's issues, like love, patience, peace and joy springing up from within, touching everyone around us. We just need to be diligent to keep our hearts!