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Guard Your Heart With All Diligence.
By Leighton Garner
Did you know there’s a Proverb in the Bible that says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it”? (Proverbs 4:23)
What does that mean to you?
If you're like most people, you probably think it means guarding your mind, thoughts, and emotions from bad things—what you see, hear, or experience.
We guard our homes with locks and alarms. We guard our health with vitamins and checkups. We guard our children from danger and inappropriate content. We protect what matters to us—our homes, our businesses, our families—from external threats.
In the same way, we try to guard our hearts from negative influences: porn, profanity, violence, bad company, or corrupt ideologies. Good parents even shield their kids from adult topics, trying to protect their innocence.
All of that is important. But there’s a deeper meaning to this Proverb—a meaning many overlook.
Guard what comes out of your heart, not just what goes into it.
Look at Proverbs 4:23 again:
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
It doesn’t say guard your heart because of what goes into it. It says everything you do flows from it. The warning is about what comes out—your words, your actions, your decisions.
Jesus drives this point home in Matthew 15:17-20:
“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’”
Jesus is clear: the real problem isn’t what enters us—it’s what already lives inside us and comes out.
That’s why Proverbs 4 continues in verses 24-25:“Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.”
How many of us can say we’ve never indulged in corrupt talk? Or never committed any sin on that list Jesus mentioned?
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Let’s be honest. None of us are guilt-free. Jeremiah 17:9 says,
“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?”
Romans 3:23 adds,“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Are You Going to Heaven?
Ask someone if they think they’re going to Heaven when they die, and many will say, “Yes, I’ve been a good person.” Or, “Well, isn’t everyone?”
That answer sounds comforting—but it’s dead wrong. The Bible makes it plain: no one is truly good. Yes, some people do better than others in terms of behavior, but in God’s eyes, His standard is perfection. That’s why we need a Savior. We aren’t just “mostly good.” We are sinners. And the penalty for sin is Hell. But God, rich in mercy, didn’t leave us hopeless. Jesus Christ—sinless, perfect—took the punishment we deserve. He paid our debt on the cross so that anyone who believes in Him could be saved. Jesus said in Matthew 7:11,“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him?”
Notice what He said: “You, being evil…” Jesus didn’t sugar-coat it. He assumed we are sinners—because we are. God cannot lie.
And God’s standard? Holiness.
Not “good enough.” Not “better than most.” Perfect holiness. Morally flawless.
Is that a tall order? No—it’s an impossible one.
We are like Swiss cheese—full of holes, corrupted through and through. We can’t clean ourselves up or earn salvation.
That’s why God provided His righteousness in place of our own. When Jesus died on the cross, He offered a perfect trade: our sin for His righteousness. And through faith in Him, we are made holy—not by our works, but by His grace.
Final Thought:So guard your heart—not just from what comes in, but more importantly, from what flows out. Because what flows out shows who you truly are—and whether you belong to Christ.
Are You Going to Heaven?
Ask someone if they think they’re going to Heaven when they die, and many will say, “Yes, I’ve been a good person.” Or, “Well, isn’t everyone?”
That answer sounds comforting—but it’s dead wrong. The Bible makes it plain: no one is truly good. Yes, some people do better than others in terms of behavior, but in God’s eyes, His standard is perfection. That’s why we need a Savior. We aren’t just “mostly good.” We are sinners. And the penalty for sin is Hell. But God, rich in mercy, didn’t leave us hopeless. Jesus Christ—sinless, perfect—took the punishment we deserve. He paid our debt on the cross so that anyone who believes in Him could be saved. Jesus said in Matthew 7:11,“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him?”
Notice what He said: “You, being evil…” Jesus didn’t sugar-coat it. He assumed we are sinners—because we are. God cannot lie.
And God’s standard? Holiness.
Not “good enough.” Not “better than most.” Perfect holiness. Morally flawless.
Is that a tall order? No—it’s an impossible one.
We are like Swiss cheese—full of holes, corrupted through and through. We can’t clean ourselves up or earn salvation.
That’s why God provided His righteousness in place of our own. When Jesus died on the cross, He offered a perfect trade: our sin for His righteousness. And through faith in Him, we are made holy—not by our works, but by His grace.
Final Thought:So guard your heart—not just from what comes in, but more importantly, from what flows out. Because what flows out shows who you truly are—and whether you belong to Christ.