Proverbs 4:23 - "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it"
What you accomplish today flows from it...
How you treat people today flows from it...
How close you feel to God today flows from it...
Everything flows from it!
Once we really understand what "the heart" is, we get how significant it is for achieving lasting spiritual transformation.
You see, "the heart" is the figurative representation for all our thoughts and attitudes.
While we'd like to believe we think mostly holy thoughts, the reality is much different!
And that is why this memory verse is so relevant for every Christian.
Proverbs 4:23 provides an important reminder. Namely, WE are responsible for controlling our thoughts and attitudes. We are reminded to protect our hearts.
But how do we do that?
Here are 3 easy ways to guard your heart and find more happiness:
1. Monitor what we put into our minds
We are responsible for the movies and TV we watch and the Facebook news feeds, magazines, books we read.
Let's not be naïve. Every piece of media has an agenda. Typically, that agenda is to sell us something. Unfortunately, none of them delivers any lasting value.
Consider the TV show that is packed with sexual innuendo and casual intimate relationships.
Consider the news channel that blasts 23.5 hours of bad news every 24 hours. The producers know that creating fear and anxiety in their audience causes ratings to increase.
Consider the latest comic book movie that grosses hundreds of millions at the box office. Most patrons don't realize the movie was made to be one giant commercial to drive sales of character licensing and merchandise.
Consider the magazine covers that promise eternal youth, great clothes, and attractive partners. Their covers are plastered with airbrushed photos - these men and women literally do not exist in the real world.
Now consider the ads that fill the airwaves and magazines. Each is designed to make us feel inadequate. Why? So we get motivated enough to buy product X, Y, or Z to fill the hole.
Unfortunately, many of us actually invite these messages into our lives for a significant part of each day. They bombard us and influence our minds. They generate dis-contentment.
And that's exactly why those growing in Christ realize they need to be intentional about limiting or excluding their influence.
2. Learn to rebuke ourselves
The second simple way to guard our hearts and find true happiness is to learn to rebuke ourselves.
This is a powerful habit to build. When applied, we short-circuit negative thinking that leads to unrighteous attitudes and actions. We avoid them all together.
First, we need to be able to recognize our wrong thoughts quickly. A routine of being in the Word really helps - after all, the Bible instructs righteous thinking and action.
Second, we want to rebuke our wrong thinking as fast as possible. Consider what happens when we don't - one negative thought builds upon another until we are more convinced than ever that our unholy thoughts are justified.
Alternatively, if we stop this cycle fast, it never has a chance to become so deeply rooted.
In order for this to work, it is helpful to have an alternate action plan. For example, we could plan ahead of time that we will close our eyes and say a quick prayer when we have an unholy thought. Or we might choose a specific memory verse to recite. I have found Psalm 51:10 to be quite helpful - "Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me."
Building a habit of stopping the cycle of negativity will tip the scales in favor of righteous thinking (and action). We will find ourselves with less anger, less lust, less envy, and less hatred.
3. Get in the Word more often
The third and final easy way to guard our hearts and find true happiness is to get in the Word more often.
In general, we are bombarded by worldly messages the majority of each day. As such, the messages from God's Word are dwarfed.
The messages from advertisements alone overwhelm us and create unhappiness. After all, that's what ads are designed to do - sell us something to fill the hole of inadequacy each one reveals.
As such, if we want to guard our hearts and find more happiness, we need to make a greater effort to tip those scales in favor of the Word.
Here's the good news. When we choose to STOP watching so much TV (and commercials) we create time we didn't have before. We can simply replace that time with time in the Word. God's Word will pour life, peace, and hope into our minds in place of discontentment.
Apply This
We reviewed just how important protecting our hearts can be to our spiritual growth and lasting happiness.
We also considered some easy ways to guard our hearts and find more happiness with routine actions each day:
1) Monitor what we put into our minds
2) Learn to rebuke ourselves
3) Get into God's Word more often
Start benefiting from this memory verse:
1. Review this verse several times throughout the day over the next 7 days
2. Choose 1 activity from the following that you will do 15 minutes less each day this coming week --> watch TV, watch movies, read a magazine
3. Read your Bible during those 15 minutes instead
