Image: "Old Stuff, 2020, Severna Park, Md
Proverbs 4:5–6 Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. 6 Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you.
Proverbs 4:13 Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life.
Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
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Robert Leighton & Griffin Thomas, in their fine commentary on 1,2 Peter (Crossway Classic) provide the following provocative insight: "There are two things that unspiritual people take least account of but are of all things most highly prized by Christians --- their own souls and God's glory." Probably they should put the latter first but we know what they mean.
"Unspiritual people", whether nominally Christian or confessedly secular, pay little attention to the spiritual health of their soul/heart. They are often very diligent in promoting their physical health. We find them on the bike trails, pumping the pedals vigorously as they sweatily burn up calories. They faithfully attend to their teeth and are not strangers at the dentist. They go to health professionals early and often. "Unspiritual people" are often highly disciplined... it is the focus of their discipline that makes them "unspiritual." They do not consider "God's Glory" nor their "own souls" in any significant light. At the most they give only a casual thought now and then, especially if they are culturally conditioned to attend church, but these things do not govern their lives.
How foolish this is! God's entire written revelation, from Genesis to Revelation, shouts a warning against this kind of complacency. From the admonition to Cain telling him that sin was crouching at his door and that he should "rule over it" (Gen. 4:7) to Peter's concern for his readers that they abstain from those things which "war against the soul" (1 Pet 2:11-12) and many other instances, God has told us that we have to discipline ourselves for godliness.
Now, as a certified "couch potato" at heart I can tell you that physical exercise has no allure for me. I do it because I must. I detest jogging and so prefer stationary bikes for cardio. I lift weights for muscle tone. I do that stuff but not for fun. That same idea might condition how we think of spiritual exercises and disciplines but we must not let it. Scriptures like the Proverbs 4 passages above tell us that spiritual exercises issue forth in life. In other words they are the doorway out of "spiritual deadness and misery" (as Augustine famously argued) into a life of "happiness."
Now this is not to be taken as some kind of "health and wealth" gospel. Far from it. Into every life some rain must fall but it is possible to find reason to rejoice in the midst of a scary storm... and spiritual exercises are the conditioning tools that enable that to happen.
The "soul" and the "heart" are tightly associated in Biblical language. When the author of Proverbs calls us to "keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life," he is not just speaking a platitude. He knows and we should know that if we have become spiritually flabby, if we have made excuses for sin, if we have entertained lust in our hearts and minds and perhaps even in our eyes, is we have let jealousy sink its claws into our gut and if we have been overly free with our anger, then know for certain: when big time trials hit we may be smothered by them.
How many lives do we know that have come apart at the seams by a crisis? A marriage that appeared so strong and loving is shattered by lies being exposed and hypocrisy condemned. It is not unusual for both parties to never really recover. The one spouse shamed beyond measure in his/her guilt and the other so hurt and hardened by distrust, that they are never to completely give herself/himself over to the risk of loving again. The same type of outcomes happen in other crises also.
The point is this: keeping our hearts with all diligence is the only way to keep sin at bay, at least to the extent that it does not bring catastrophe. What would Cain's life have been like if he had listened to God's instruction and guarded his heart? We will never know but we do know what happened to him after he sinned and it wasn't pretty. David never really recovered from his sin with Uriah and Bathsheba... the end of his reign was only a shell of his former glory.
So we need to keep our hearts with diligence. What does that entail? Briefly:
It means a firm and loving regard for God Himself first and foremost. It means earnestly seeking HIm and His glory so that the joy of His Person is our highest joy. If we are delighting ourselves in God the tawdry bangles of fleshly sin will have no allure.
It means a conscious discipline of scripture and prayer.... together. We prayerfully read scripture and we pray in accordance with Scripture. In doing so the heavenly vista become more accessible to us. We begin to see our world from God's perspective and His indwelling Spirit at once alerts us to danger and informs us how to avoid it. We become wise in the world because we understand God's Ways and His Word.
It means a new appreciation for the grace of Godly fellowship. Christianity is not a Lone Ranger religion, it is meant to be lived and practiced in community. When many weak parts and fitted into place with other weak parts, if properly arranged they offset each other's weaknesses and benefit from each other's strengths. God's Church, His Covenant People, are part of His plan to help us "keep our hearts."
Much more could be said but at least this might stir some thoughts.
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