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Guard Your Heart


                 My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:20-23) 

          The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 
            “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)
          “Trust your heart.” Three of the most dangerous words in the English language. Our passage in Proverbs talks about the heart being the wellspring of life. The thing about wells was that they had to be protected. Even today, our water sources need to be protected, from people, from animals, from parasitic, bacterial, or viral agents. It is vital to our societies that fresh, clean drinking water is available. 
          Today, we tend to take water a little for granted. Sure, there are people who won’t drink tap water, but at least where I live, it’s not rationed. People don’t feel they need to stand over their water supplies with guns. 
          However, we tend to treat our hearts with less care than our water. We see and hear things we shouldn’t, and we make the excuse that it won’t hurt us. This is because, as Jeremiah tells us, our hearts are deceitful. It’s true that watching Criminal Minds or one of the incarnations of Law and Order isn’t likely to make you a serial killer but do you see the world the same way as you did before you watched it? I liked watching those shows, and I chose them as my examples because I enjoyed them, but I can’t say they’ve made the world a better place. I can’t say they’ve made me a better, more loving person. 
          There is a book called Ghost Map by Steven Johnson that tells the story of a terrifying epidemic in London. After many deaths, they figured out that sewage was seeping into the well-water that the community had been using for years. The water looked good, but it killed. Today, water is regularly tested. In our lives, we need to test the “water” that we allow into our hearts, and we need to test the “water” that flows out from it. Even a small amount of contamination can do irreparable harm. Watching our hearts is not a “yeah, OK” type of job. It takes vigilance. But it is out of that heart that we draw our lives and that we give life to others. How’s your well? I think mine needs some work.

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