Growing up, Dad had a brown musty leather briefcase where he kept our family’s important documents.

Anything deemed valuable found its way there -birth certificates, national IDs, passports, title deeds, bank information, and academic certificates.

Our sticky explorative hands were not allowed near the esteemed briefcase.

Later on, as a teen, I wondered what dad would salvage first if our house ever caught fire.

I had a sneaky hunch that he would secure the briefcase first- because our lives were bound up in there.

Each milestone was safely tucked in the four corners of the musty, crammed-up briefcase.

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Naturally, we guard what we value. We erect perimeter walls, install alarm systems, security cameras, and motion sensors to ward off intruders from our homes.

We stash money, priced jewellery, title deeds, wills, and sentimental items in safes made of thick, impenetrable steel.

Guarding what we deem precious is great, but King Solomon points us to an even greater treasure that we ought to guard above everything else.

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” (Proverbs 4:23, NLT)

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Solomon doesn’t mince his words. If we had only one thing to guard, it must be our hearts.

He is not referring to the four-chambered organ that pumps blood in our bodies.

He is referring to our inner person, the spiritual being where our thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and actions originate.

The NKJV puts it this way: “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life.”

Your Command Centre

Your life has a command centre, where each belief, thought, and action is whipped up.

This control room, the big guy who calls the shots, is your heart.

💝Our life’s triumphs and successes are churned from our hearts.

💝Our failures, too, are hatched there.

💝Our attitudes and beliefs can be traced back to our hearts.

💝Faith to heft mountains bubbles up from our hearts.

💝Fear that makes us mousy is churned right there.

The entire tapestry of our lives is woven in our hearts.

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The state of our hearts is, therefore, a mighty big deal.

Enter King Solomon.

He admonishes us to beef up the security around our hearts.

Guard them with all diligence-above everything else

Above our relationships, ambitions, and earthly pursuits.

Nothing should waltz in and out of our hearts unsupervised.

We need a filter around them to separate the wheat from the chaff.

One that will only permit life-inducing things and discard the damaging stuff.

Photo by RDNE Stock project-Pexel

A Life Trajectory Altered

He was impulsive, brash, bulky, strong, and intimidating- he made the Philistines shake in their boots.

Once on a wife-hunting mission with his parents in tow, he stealthily killed a lion with his bare hands and didn’t tell a soul – no biggie.

In a moment of displeasure, he captured 300 foxes and used them to set ablaze the Philistines’ grain fields, vineyards, and olive groves.

Itching for vengeance, he executed a thousand Philistines using a donkey’s jawbone.

In the wee hours of the night, he dislodged Gaza’s city gates (its doors and posts), hauled them on his shoulders, and dumped them on top of a hill.

Talk of a spectacular, heroic way to taunt one’s enemies!

Samson, the oak-strong Nazarite, was Israel’s answered prayer, their redeemer from the oppression of the Philistines.

He had been dedicated to God’s service from his mother’s womb.

But.

His heart was unguarded.

His strength was untethered and susceptible to leaking, like oil seeping through a paper towel.

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Samson lived frivolously and acted on impulse. He got involved with Philistine women.

His favourite, Delilah, begged to know the source of his strength.

She nagged, cajoled, pestered, prodded, and probed.

Big, brawny Samson could heft gates and kill lions with bare hands, but he couldn’t endure pestering by the woman he loved.

It didn’t matter that he knew she wanted him emasculated, completely defanged.

So he spilled the beans, giving her access to his Nazarite heart.

“When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand.” (Judges 16:18)

The secret to his strength had been bound up in his heart for years.

Every victory he gained was churned right there.

But because his heart was unguarded, his enemies eventually barged in.

They gained access to his control room and fiddled with some knobs.

With a sigh of triumph, they turned off the source of his strength.

Mr. Herculean was rendered spineless faster than he could rouse himself from sleep.

A Guarded Heart

“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel 1:8)

Unlike Samson, Daniel had bulwarked his heart. Nothing went through without scrutiny.

He declined portions from the King’s delicacies, because they had likely been dedicated to idols.

The offer was tempting, but it couldn’t penetrate the thick perimeter wall around his heart.

The alarm system guarding his heart was too loud for him to compromise.

So he said no, and God granted Him favor with the steward in charge- the chief of Eunuchs.

Every victory Daniel savoured in Babylon, a foreign land, was brewed from a fortified heart.

• He possessed integrity, wisdom, skill in literature, and knowledge.
• He figured out King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and interpreted it.
• He interpreted the writing on the wall for King Belshazzar (Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin).
• He spent a night with lions and came out unscathed.

Daniel teaches us that a guarded heart guarantees a life of victory.

Resounding victory.

Renew Your Mind

The first step towards beefing up the security around your heart is by allowing the word of God to renew your mind.

Your heart’s transformation and security begin in your mind.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”(Romans 12:2)

This world reeks of sin and corruption.

Without renewed minds, our hearts will gravitate towards anger, lust, malice, adultery, bitterness, selfishness, jealousy, greed, pride, and a boatload of other vices.

Never, for a single moment, underestimate the depths of depravity to which the human heart can stoop.

A heart steered by an unrenewed mind is capable of grave evil, even for those who love God.

Remember David, a man after God’s own heart? He committed two grave sins in quick succession- adultery, then murder.

One sin after another. Unflinchingly.

He followed his (unfortified) heart, which landed him in a ditch headfirst.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

David’s sin changed the entire trajectory of his life.

It spread its mucky tentacles throughout his life and that of his family.

God sent prophet Nathan to break down to him the consequences of his sin.

“Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ” (2 Samuel 12:10-12).

An unrenewed mind breeds an unguarded heart.

✍️We therefore need to steep our minds in the word of God, meditating on it day and night (Joshua 1:8)

✍️We need to set our minds on things that are above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:2)

✍️We need to think and meditate on things that are true, noble, just, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. (Phillipians 4:8)

✍️We need to seek the Kingdom of God first and His righteousness (Mathew 6:33)

✍️We need to sow in the Spirit and cease sowing to the flesh (Galatians 6:8)

Reflection

• Like Daniel, have you fortified your heart, denying access to things that threaten to defile it?
• Allow the word of God to renew your mind, thereby setting your heart on the right course.
• Spend time in prayer, reading, and meditating on God’s word.
• Above all things, guard your heart, the command center and control room of your life.

Prayer

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”(Psalm 51:10)

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