By James T. Smith
Proverbs 4:23,
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” What is God trying to tell us in this verse? Another verse in Proverbs is, “as a man thinks so he is.” Jesus had a lot to say about the heart. Jesus knew that man’s heart is desperately wicked, He wrote this in the Old Testament and repeated in the New Testament. Matthew 12: 33-37,
“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Jesus knows that our hearts are wicked so He gave us His Word and His Spirit so we can renew our minds with His Word. We are completely dependant on His Word and Spirit and responsible to renew our minds and hearts with His Word and Spirit every day.
Galatians 5: 16-18,
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the fles ...
