Read: Proverbs 4:20-27

When the Bible talks about your heart it is talking about something different than that organ that pumps blood around your body. Your heart is the centre of your life. Your heart is your inner feelings of joy and sadness. Your heart is your thinking and your mind.

Because your heart is the centre of your life, you need to keep, or guard, your heart. This means you need to protect it, to look after it. You need to protect it from sin and Satan. You need to make sure you use your whole life, your whole heart, to serve the Lord.

So how do you guard your heart? How do you make sure your heart is always focused on serving the Lord? Verse 24 says we must put away deceitful mouths and perverse lips. And verse 25 adds that we must keep our eyes looking straight ahead. So if you know there are things that are going to make your heart want to do what is wrong, keep those things far away from you. If there are programs you watch on T.V. or things you look at on the internet that the Lord is not pleased with, don’t watch or look at those things. If going somewhere with certain friends is going to make you do the wrong thing, don’t go there.

All of us have evil hearts, all of our hearts are full of sin, and the Lord knows that and that’s why he tells us to flee from sin. Whatever we read or look at will affect our hearts. So make sure you always read and look at godly things. Spend more time reading the Bible.

And keep your eyes focused ahead on the Lord. Remember that you are heading towards eternal life with the Lord. Keep thinking and focusing on that. Sin wants us to go to the right or to the left, to get distracted from serving the Lord, but the Lord says we must remain focused on him, looking straight ahead where God is on his throne.

Reflection with your child:

How can you guard your heart?

Source: Sermon by Rev. W. den Hollander