23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. 24 Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. 26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.
What does guarding our heart mean? We have a large world out there, one that isn’t always aligned with our Christian values. In fact, the world tends to carry its own sense of values. It tells us what it finds important and valuable. But as a Christian, you have a measuring stick of truth. The world does not. So we must use the truth in order to understand the lies, and guard the most precious parts of ourself from infection.
One aspect of living in the world is to live for ourself and complain when our needs aren’t met. If you are a Christian, you may find this statement untrue but think about how the rest of the world may view it. Doesn’t the world argue for its rights and demand its way. Doesn’t the world fight for its own truth and then opposes those who disagree with it?
If the answer is yes, then we have to dig a little deeper. Do we do this too? Do we feel entitled to our own worldly beliefs, cling to them, and create a system of enemies who are in opposition to them? It is very human to do this, even as a Christian. Even though a Christian strives to be equal and fair to all, the Christian also gets caught up in the gears of the world. This confuses us and throws us into a spirit of negativity. The negativity shoots out of us and affects those around us. In short, the very light that we are supposed to spread is instead dark, dismal, damaging. The question becomes, if this is a very human thing, and most of us go there every now and then, is it what God intends?
Negativity is damaging. The bible talks about this in a number of spots. Negativity, also associated with grumbling (complaining), is detrimental to Christians. There’s no better spot then to examine the story of the Israelites in the desert.
16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” - Exodus 14:16-18
To see the detrimental effects of Negativity, we have to start with a miracle. Let me set the stage:
The Israelites have been imprisoned in Egypt for over 400 years. They cry out to God and God hears them. He sends Moses to recur them and Moses, through a series of 10 plagues unleashed on Egypt to show God’s power, finally does. The Pharaoh allows the Jews to leave. But as they are heading into the desert, the Pharaoh come to his senses. Israel is his workforce. Without the Jews, the work will not get done. So he summons his army of chariots and follows them into the desert.
The Israelites have come to the Red Sea, a natural barrier; to cross it, they will be free of Egypt. As the Egyptians close in on the Israelites, Moses raises his staff and the sea parts. The Israelites are able to cross and the Egyptians follow them into the sea, only to be gobbled up by it. The Israelites are free, and led further to freedom by the Angel of the Lord.
A miracle. Have you ever thought, that if you are party to a miracle, you would drop everything and believe fully? Let’s see what the Israelites do:
27 “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. - Numbers 14:27
11 days into the desert the Israelites are already grumbling. It is affecting Moses, their leader. How can this happen so quickly? Guarding our hearts against the constant influx of negativity around us is paramount. For those who have witnessed miracles, who have been changed by spiritual events, may understand this better. Time gets in the way, the crispness of the event, still important and life-changing, loses its edge. The world caves in on us. The devil is always there. Suddenly we are lost in the world, drowning in negativity around us, and we too begin to complain. We begin to want our way at any cost.
James 5:9 says this:
9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
Grumbling, whether it is against one another, our situation, our station in life, or any other face we want to put on it, is against the will of God. If we are to be the light on the hill (Matthew 5:14-16), then are we diminishing our light with a persistent negative, complaining spirit? When out in the world, are we unable to show God’s love because we complain about our situation? 1 Corinthians 10:8-11 says this:
8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. We see some examples of people who had judgment levied against them. First, the sexually immoral. Second, those who tested Christ. Third, those who grumbled about their circumstance. Paul reminds us that these are warnings to us.
Ephesians 4:29: 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. What is unwholesome talk? There is a wide range of topics to cover, but among them is negative talk, or complaining. Paul says this: instead of expending the energy to go negative, why not use that energy to build people up? This isn’t just to be positive, but to establish what each person’s needs are and benefit them individually.
Hebrews 13:5 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
As found in this story, the Israelites forgot one very important detail: they forgot about God’s provision. God had provided for them in their escape and promised them safety and a new place to call their home. But in forgetting the provision, they forgot the promise. In forgetting both, they slipped into desiring their own truth. They slipped into complaining. They fell into negativity, and thus fell out of God’s will for them.
This is very easy to do. When we slip away from God’s embrace, we begin to create a new truth for ourself. It is one based on our circumstance. Suddenly the circumstance we are in becomes the item we must most concentrate on. We lose perspective on God and begins to go inward. Begin to believe our own comfort is most important. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
King Solomon writes about seasons in our life. We also have trials we go through. Trials, seasons and circumstances carry the same designation, In all three, learning, growth and perspective are all the prizes. Some seasons are good, others challenging. Same with circumstances. Trials are challenging by nature. But they all have the common thread of God in them: He wants to build us into a better human being, a stronger person both spiritually and physically, so that can learn and grow from whatever we go through. They also have another thing in common: we must go through them.
The problem that we have in our humanness is when in any of these, we can’t see the end. Because we can’t put a finite end date on these, we are always in danger of saying “I need to take care of this myself”. We forge forward, forgetting about God and what we must learn, and take care of the situation as we see fit. This is often done through our human nature, with its own set of rules and values. The problem is, that’s not how God wants us to do it.
A circumstance, trial or season will roll into our life because God allows it. In that, His hope is that we come back to Him in it. These are steps we must go through, for our own development. If we refuse to go through it, whether by ignoring it or handling it without God, we don’t learn. We tend to repeat these in cyclical behavior through our entire lives, getting mired down in the same problem, which has a slightly different face each time, yet is still the same old issue we can’t seem to shake.
Seasons in life change. Circumstances end. It’s always about how we handle them as we go through them.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says this: 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:28: 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
What do these verses have in common? They tell us a story of how God wants us to act and deal with situation sin our life.
1. Give thanks in all circumstances, whether good or bad. What we tend to do is rejoice in the good circumstance and regard the challenging ones as something to be discarded. But if God allows circumstances into our life in order to build us (James 1:2-4), then aren’t they valuable as well, and worthy of rejoicing?
2. All circumstances work for the good of those who are God’s. This is the point of circumstance: the challenges we have in life are for our benefit. Not all of them are nice. But they are building block for the person God wants us to be. If we can turn around the negative connotation of a situation and look at how it can build us, then we are looking at it through God’s perspective.
3. Don’t worry about it; connect with God through it. What we tend to do is worry about things. Why do we do this? One reason is because so much of life seems like it’s out of control. How can we control things that seem be out of our grasp? We worry about it. It affords us a little control. If we worry about it, then we at least have a hand in the problem. This does not work. Worrying doesn’t add a day to our life, it certainly doesn’t control the situation, and it makes us sick. Instead of worry, God says to remember the provision. Connect to the source.
God wants to build us through dependence on Him, not independence.
DEPENDENCE
How do we depend on God in a stronger way?
Mark 11:24 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Prayer is the first way we connect. We identify that God is powerful and real and yearn to connect with him in a real and deep way; it is our primary contact with Him.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Respect the Word: Understand the Bible has power, instructions for living and Promises. Evaluate truth against the world and the word.
Daniel 1:8 8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
Do what God commands: Do what is right in any situation. Don’t cave into the world view, but stay strong in what God tells you. Daniel was put in an impossible situation. In the palace of Nebuchadnezzar he had a free ride to comfort. All he had to do was give up his lineage. Yet Daniel stood for God, just like we’re supposed to.
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Be an Example: Our example is an extension of the values we carry in this life. When we connect to the source then what flows from us is that connection. We become a strong example to others.
Luke 12:22-26 22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life[a]? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
Do not worry: The bible tells us to ditch worry and depend on Him. This is the ultimate leap of faith. If we tend to worry, we are forgetting about the provision. We must always draw ourself back to what God has given us, even as it seems like things are being taken away.
IS THERE A BETTER WAY?
Our humanness likes to run toward the negative spectrum. It is obsessed, it seems, with the things we don’t have instead of recognizing the things we do. This is illustrated in Numbers 11:4-6:
4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
Earlier, we read about the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea. But that wasn’t the only miracle of provision for the Israelites in the desert. God fed them. Manna fell from the sky and the Israelites collected it each day for themselves and their families. But somewhere down the line, they began to yearn for what they once had in Egypt. Remember, they were slaves in Egypt, yet they are pining for the old days when life was good. They have soured on God’s provision and want something else, something more that they believe they deserve.
This is where we get when we begin to take on the worldly view and forget about the provision that we’ve been given - provision we never deserved. This is where negativity and complaining are born and where we tend to lean to. But is there a better way? Is there a better system we can lean into?
Jesus talks about this in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-12).
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Here Jesus blesses many different people, but it’s hard to understand why. What is the significance of all these blessings? Christ himself is telling us about what it means to be a Christian, and how the process of following is crucial to how we view life on earth.
Poor in spirit These are people who understand their need for a savior
Those who mourn People who understand their need for repentance
Those who are meek These people submit to God’s authority
Hunger for righteousness Those who develop a passion for God’s law
Merciful Those who reflect God’s love
Pure in Heart Those who focus on God
Peacemakers Those who align themselves against evil
Persecution Those who stand for God
What Christ is illustrating is a process. We all want to be able to stand firm for God in any situation. We want to be the person who can stand up for God and defend him if necessary. We want that to be a natural function. But we can’t do that unless we submit.
1. We can’t submit unless we understand the need for a savior. 2. We then must understand our brokenness. 3. Only then can we submit. 4. After submission, we start a journey of strengthening. The only way it begins is with the hunger for learning and growing in God’s word. 5. Once we have become more mature and understand God’s law, then we can reflect His mercy. It only comes with an understanding of what God desires in our life. 6. Those who can reflect God’s mercy (understand what He did for us) can we begin to reflect it into the world. 7. A natural extension of this love is making peace. We no longer are tied to the world, but are more concerned with growing peace in others. 8. Only then, when we understand God’s mercy, when reflect His love and set out to be peacemakers will we be able to truly stand up for God in persecution. Persecution doesn’t always mean death. Sometimes its sequestered from your friends, or fired from a job, or left out of certain functions because of your faith. It’s the price you pay for being a follower.
To look at this list means to understand what the faith is about. It’s a process that brings us from an infant into maturity. But it’s all based on dependance, not independence. The better way of understanding life is to understand what God wants of us and move toward it. A better way is dependence on God.
GUARDING OUR HEART
Proverbs 4:23-26: 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. 24 Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. 26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.
Everything you do flows from it: If our hearts are guarded, everything we do flows from being connected to the vine Keep your mouths free from perversity: If our hearts are guarded, our speech will be thoughtful and meaningful Keep Corrupt talk from your lips: If our hearts are guarded, our talk will be uplifting, not divisive Let your eyes look straight ahead: If our hearts are guarded, our path will be clearer Give careful thought to the paths for your feet:If our hearts are guarded, we consider how we walk through life Be steadfast in all your ways: If our hearts are guarded, we consider God in our life and decisions Our inner core is where Satan wants to breaches; we must guard it with trust and strength.
How do we guard our hearts?
Philippians 2: 14 14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing,
If we aren’t grumbling or complaining, we are looking at life in a different way. We are bursting through our natural tendencies and understanding the true meaning of seasons, trials and circumstances. When we don’t give into the natural tendency to complain, we are honoring God and His allowance of the circumstance in our life. It isn’t our way anymore, it’s His way. We are learning to understand why these are in our life and seeing the growth. This is obedience.
Hebrews 13:5 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Our conduct helps us to see God clearer. When it isn’t about us anymore, it’s about what we can learn, we are accepting the training that God wants to do in us. This makes us stronger and more focused. This is trust.
Ephesians 4:31-32 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
When we accept the training, God will show us things about ourself that we may have never seen, or things we have buried. Bitterness is about holding onto things from our past. Rage is an unchecked escalation of repressed emotion. Anger is about sudden reaction. Malice is about sewing chaos into other people’s lives. None of this produces the righteousness that God desires (James 1:20). These are the deep issues of our life, the items that live below the surface. If we are addressing those things that are symptoms of deeper issues, like negativity and complaining, we also have to go to the deep hurts of our life. To get them out of the way is important, because there is a strength in compassion and kindness and forgiveness. This is how we fight Satan.
Titus 3:9 9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.
When we are drawn into worldly conflicts, we get drawn into the world. If we watch the news nonstop, what happens to your psyche? You begin to get depressed, chaos begins to infiltrate your heart, you’re less confidant of God’s promises and you are driven to worry. Paul calls these human controversies unprofitable. That’s a good word for it. Being stuck in the world worry system doesn’t pay dividends. It destroys you a little at a time. It’s much more profitable to concentrate on what God finds valuable. The world is going to do what it’s going to do. Your job is to do the best for the people God has entrusted you with. This is how you fight the world.
TURN BACK TO THE SOURCE
2 Timothy 3:1-5 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
It seems like we live in these times already. Paul warned of this time, but it’s been like this all through history. The world is a tough place, full of pitfalls. But you have the truth. You guard yourself from the ungodly with the truth. The world will only get worse. But you have a mission to uncover the person God wants you to be, and there is also a mission to share your light with everyone you can.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
This is a spiritual fight. To guard our hearts means to understand that this fight is not just a human fight, not a temporal exercise, but a battle that rages far and wide and deep. Our thoughts are where the enemy penetrates first. That’s why our minds must be strong for this battle.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
If we are to strengthen our minds, then we must strengthen them by returning to where God wants us to be: finding purity in our thought life. If we are to train a mind to be strong, then the thoughts must be noble, right, pure, lovely. Training our mind in these things makes our thoughts less likely to stray to places where the devil can establish a foothold. We must renew our mind and spirit.
John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
We are only made as strong as our connection to the vine. As long as we stay connected to the vine we’re refined. We can’t do it without Christ. We can’t bear fruit, we can’t be all we can be in Christ and in the world, without the connection. In guarding our hearts, we must remember this. Like a branch is fed by the vine, we receive nutrients to make us stronger. If that connection is severed, then the branch ultimately dies; it cannot bear any fruit. God’s desire is for us to be healthy in our connection and healthy in the world. But we must protect it at all costs.