Guard Your Heart – Proverbs 4:23

Congratulations grads! Last weekend marked the completion of your secondary school education. It’s a milestone you’ll reflect on throughout life. The future lies before you – with all of its opportunities and possibilities. You may feel like an eagle that is ready to soar. Life stretches before you – the road can be adventurous, but also laden with hidden, subtle poisons that can do you in and ruin your life.

At one time eagles were on their way to becoming extinct because of DDT pesticide. It turned out to be a poison that wasn't just killing pests; it was killing the majestic eagle. It reminds me of the importance of guarding your heart and banning the poison that brings you down.

Proverbs 4:23 states: "Above all else, guard your heart because it is the wellspring of life." If an animal falls in a well and dies, it will pollute the water that comes out of that well. It's the same with your mind. If you allow something polluted or dead in there, it will continue to contaminate the well for a long time. That's why we have such a hard time forgetting a dirty joke or movie scene for so long. Sin-stained stuff makes a deeper impression than we could ever imagine. So long after the song is off the charts or the show is over, the pollution planted by them will live in your heart and continue to poison your thoughts and desires.

So, your heart is the reservoir, the spring which feeds everything else in your life – what you value, what you spend your time on, what you spend your money on, what you love, what you hate. If it gets poisoned, it's going to affect – and infect – everything.

A young mother who came to Christ from a painful and drug-ridden said that the messages in many of her CD’s, books and videos where poisoning her heart –creating havoc and wrong thoughts and actions. She burned them because she felt she could no longer listen to them and live the way that Jesus wanted her to live.

That young woman understood a basic principle of guarding her heart and soaring spiritually – you have to ban from your life the poison that brings down an eagle. And soul DDT is all around you. It's in music, in movies, in fantasy games, in TV shows, on the Internet, in things you read or look at, in humor, in conversation.

Some of you will go on to university or other post-secondary education. You will be faced with teachings/philosophies and sinful desires that “wage war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). Scripture warns us to stay clear of these because they’ll bring death. There are desires and temptations that literally attack your soul, and your soul is the 'command centre' of your choices and your imagination, your dreams and your lifestyle. If it gets poisoned, your life gets poisoned – so like a health conscious shopper, we have to "look at the label." Check what damaging ingredients there might be and what you allow to feed your soul. Your soul feeds on the books and magazines you read; the movies, videos and TV you watch; the music you listen to; the jokes you listen to; the relationships you spend a lot of time on. God's word is without compromise. Abstain from sinful desires – avoid any input that Satan can use later to attack your soul.

So what do you put into your life that isn’t going to poison you? Philippians 4:8 – "Finally …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." That verse prescribes God's mental diet for anyone who is serious about wholesome living.

Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, (that’s top priority) guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Everything you do and say originates with what's in your heart – it's the reservoir from which everything comes. And what's in your heart depends on what you put in your heart, what you let in your heart. And you need to post a 24-hour guard around your heart – a guard who refuses to let in anything that will feed your anger, your lust, your depression, your wrong desires, your dark side.

Isaiah 40:31 - You're an eagle! You're destined by God to fly. But when you let soul poison in, you're not flyin', you're dyin'. So guard your heart!

Ted Goossen is pastor of the Mennonite Christian Centre Fellowship at 328 Thompson Dr.