The heart and mind are the two parts of our lives that determine the state of our being. The mind is in the brain and the heart is in the soul... The mind handles your thought processes and the heart handles your life. We have a duty to take care of both. Today I'll share about the heart.
So many things come at us everyday, and so many things come from us too. It is our duty to take care of our hearts because no one else can do it. Only God cares about it, and He cared enough about it to send His beloved Son to die on the cross and pay for our sins. That way the burden was lifted from us and that makes it possible for us to live in freedom from sin.
These are some issues of life that spring from the heart;
- Love for God and for people, Luke 10:27 "He answered, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
- Light, 2Corinthians 4:6, "For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ."
- Health, Proverbs 17:22 "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."
- The whole fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
- Strength, Psalm 73:26 "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
All these are very important aspects of our lives. We must guard them from sin. The heart suffers from sin in two ways; Sin from the inside and sin from the outside.
Sin from the inside, Mark 7:15, "Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them." And by nothing coming inside, Jesus is talking about food. Our sinful habits defile our hearts. These can be broken by repentance and then obedience to God's Word.
Sin that influences the heart from the outside comes in form of;
- Corrupt friends and family, Psalm 1:1 "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers"
- Also from sinful culture, allowing to be influenced with the worldly ways that go against God's Word.
Protect your heart by reading God's Word and meditating on it day and night. Hiding the precepts in your heart that they may be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path, directing your thoughts and actions.
Also separate yourself, to the extent that is possible, from people whose ways continuously affect you negatively. Forgive them, bless them but tread carefully around them, do not give in to them.
Above all else, surrender yourself in prayer "To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy--"Jude 1:24
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