Heart Check

Hey guys! We are doing a "heart check" series in our church. Andy Stanley is the author of this and it's been great so far. Wow talk about looking into your heart and examining it. Anyway, I wanted to share today's with all of you! I pray we would all benefit from God's truth.

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Since the heart is the source from which our words, thoughts, and desires flow, it is vital that we learn to guard our hearts.

In 1993, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, suffered the largest recorded waterborne diesase outbreak in US history. Over 400,000 people became sick from contaminated drinking water containing the cryptosporidium protozoan, and over 100 died. It was coming from the water treatment plant! Failure to adequately guard the source had profound and widespread consequences.

The Bible says that Solomon was the wisest man in the world, writing over 3,000 proverbs (1 Kings 4:29-34)- but he says "Above all else, guard your heart..." Of all the wise things we can do, of all the important things we need to watch, above all else, we need to guard our hearts.

If we need to guard our hearts, then it must be because our hearts are under attack. Not only is there a frontal assault of many temptations that we must repulse, but there is also the danger of decay from neglect. Failure to monitor and safeguard the proper functioning of our inner lives can lead to "infection" by toxins that affect all areas of our lives.