Week of Monday August 26 – September 1
Heart Strong - Man as Defender
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. - Proverbs 4:23 ESV
Last year, I had some serious trouble with my heart. On a hunting trip out in rural Oklahoma with my buddy Ken Blackwell, I suffered a heart attack that could have been a lot worse. The Lord providentially got me out of the woods and connected me with a heart surgeon who diagnosed the grave situation I was in, and he performed bypass surgery that saved my life. As you might imagine, I had to change some things following heart surgery. My doctors prescribed a change in diet, a daily regimen of medications, and post-op cardio-therapy. Bottom line: they coached me on how to guard my heart so that I can keep fighting the good fight for years to come.
Here in Proverbs, Solomon is coaching us on how to guard and keep our hearts strong—and by “heart,” I mean more than the physical muscle beating in our chests. Pastor and author Joseph Stowell writes:
Heart is used in Scripture as the most comprehensive term for the authentic person. It is the part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. It has been described as “the place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity,” “the comprehensive term for a person as a whole; his feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and will,” and “the center of a person. The place to which God turns.” God has always been extremely interested in the heart of a man.
Indeed, Solomon tells us that from the heart “flow the springs of life” (v. 23). Given its critical importance, we are instructed in verse 23 to keep or guard our hearts “with all diligence.”
There is a lot that goes into that endeavor. Just as my doctors recommended that I stick to a certain diet to strengthen my heart, Solomon recommends a strict diet of Bible teachings:
My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh” (vv. 20-22).
My doctors also prescribed daily medications to keep my heart rate regulated and my arteries clear of obstruction. Solomon prescribes:
Put away from you crooked speech and put devious talk far from you (v. 24).
Additionally, my doctors recommended cardio-therapy, like spending time on the treadmill to strengthen my heart. Solomon prescribes:
Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil (vv. 25-27).
In the New Testament, Paul advises that we take up a defensive posture and put on the “breastplate of righteousness” to guard our hearts against the relentless assault of the devil and his forces (see Eph. 6:14). In my book Man to Man, I give more detail on the armor of God and the full-coverage Roman breastplate that protected the heart and vital organs. Interestingly, an earlier version of the Roman breastplate was much smaller and called the pectorale, which was literally a “heart guard” because it covered only about eight inches over the heart. Pierce the heart, and it is “game over.” That’s why soldiers, both ancient and modern, take wearing body armor to protect the heart seriously.
The admonition to keep or guard your heart is one of the most important truths for a godly man to pursue. In our role as Defenders, we must seek to help those we love and lead them to do the same. The devil and his minions are firing live rounds with lethal effect. Men, let’s do all we can to guard our hearts.
- What are you doing in your daily routine to keep or guard your heart? Are you fortifying your heart with a daily dose of God’s truth from time in His Word?
- How are you helping defend the hearts of those you love and lead? Do you lead them to spend time in God’s Word? If not, sign up for FRC’s Stand on the Word Bible reading plan by texting the word “Bible” to 67742 or visit frc.org/bible.
- Ask the Lord to help you as you seek to be vigilant about guarding your heart and defending the hearts of your family members.
Heart Strong - Man as Defender
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. - Proverbs 4:23 ESV
Last year, I had some serious trouble with my heart. On a hunting trip out in rural Oklahoma with my buddy Ken Blackwell, I suffered a heart attack that could have been a lot worse. The Lord providentially got me out of the woods and connected me with a heart surgeon who diagnosed the grave situation I was in, and he performed bypass surgery that saved my life. As you might imagine, I had to change some things following heart surgery. My doctors prescribed a change in diet, a daily regimen of medications, and post-op cardio-therapy. Bottom line: they coached me on how to guard my heart so that I can keep fighting the good fight for years to come.
Here in Proverbs, Solomon is coaching us on how to guard and keep our hearts strong—and by “heart,” I mean more than the physical muscle beating in our chests. Pastor and author Joseph Stowell writes:
Heart is used in Scripture as the most comprehensive term for the authentic person. It is the part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. It has been described as “the place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity,” “the comprehensive term for a person as a whole; his feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and will,” and “the center of a person. The place to which God turns.” God has always been extremely interested in the heart of a man.
Indeed, Solomon tells us that from the heart “flow the springs of life” (v. 23). Given its critical importance, we are instructed in verse 23 to keep or guard our hearts “with all diligence.”
There is a lot that goes into that endeavor. Just as my doctors recommended that I stick to a certain diet to strengthen my heart, Solomon recommends a strict diet of Bible teachings:
My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh” (vv. 20-22).
My doctors also prescribed daily medications to keep my heart rate regulated and my arteries clear of obstruction. Solomon prescribes:
Put away from you crooked speech and put devious talk far from you (v. 24).
Additionally, my doctors recommended cardio-therapy, like spending time on the treadmill to strengthen my heart. Solomon prescribes:
Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil (vv. 25-27).
In the New Testament, Paul advises that we take up a defensive posture and put on the “breastplate of righteousness” to guard our hearts against the relentless assault of the devil and his forces (see Eph. 6:14). In my book Man to Man, I give more detail on the armor of God and the full-coverage Roman breastplate that protected the heart and vital organs. Interestingly, an earlier version of the Roman breastplate was much smaller and called the pectorale, which was literally a “heart guard” because it covered only about eight inches over the heart. Pierce the heart, and it is “game over.” That’s why soldiers, both ancient and modern, take wearing body armor to protect the heart seriously.
The admonition to keep or guard your heart is one of the most important truths for a godly man to pursue. In our role as Defenders, we must seek to help those we love and lead them to do the same. The devil and his minions are firing live rounds with lethal effect. Men, let’s do all we can to guard our hearts.
- What are you doing in your daily routine to keep or guard your heart? Are you fortifying your heart with a daily dose of God’s truth from time in His Word?
- How are you helping defend the hearts of those you love and lead? Do you lead them to spend time in God’s Word? If not, sign up for FRC’s Stand on the Word Bible reading plan by texting the word “Bible” to 67742 or visit frc.org/bible.
- Ask the Lord to help you as you seek to be vigilant about guarding your heart and defending the hearts of your family members.