Key Verse: Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (Prov. 4:23)
Twenty-five years ago, management guru Stephen Covey published an extremely influential book, First Things First. One section of the book he called “The Main Thing Is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.” That is powerful advice in a world that constantly calls us in all directions.
Solomon tells us what the main thing is. Among his instructions to his son, we find this: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” We could paraphrase Solomon’s words like this: The main thing is to guard your heart. There is nothing more important than this. This is worthy of the place “above all else.” You will be called in many directions, he says, but guard your heart.
Jesus reflects the importance of the heart in Luke 6:45, “The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Do you notice Jesus’ language? He calls what we keep in our hearts our treasure. Some, he says, keep good treasure, and some bad treasure, and out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
What do you treasure? What occupies your heart? What are your dreams? What do you value? Those things are what fill the fountain of your heart, and Jesus says, “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” If you treasure good things, that is what will flow from your mouth—words of praise and encouragement and joy and peace. On the other hand, if you treasure bad things, that is what will flow. You will speak words of criticism and doubt and fear and confusion. Solomon tells us to guard our heart because “everything you do flows from it.”
About a hundred years after the reign of Solomon, Israel had split and Jehu was one of the generally bad kings in the northern kingdom. The Lord commended Jehu for many things he had done, but with this qualification: “Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit” (2 Kings 10:31). He was not careful and did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam. He failed to guard his heart.
Jesus gives us the New Testament version of being careful to keep the law of the Lord. A Pharisee tested Him one day and asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” In other words, above all else, love God and your neighbor.
Are you keeping the main thing the main thing? Are you guarding your heart? Do these two laws govern your life?
Prayer: Lord, when I am rushed and harried in the midst of life, let me keep the main thing the main thing. Please give me the heart commitment I need. When I face temptation, let me be prepared. In the quiet of the morning or the evening, let me set up the defenses by meditating on your Word and hiding it in my heart. When I hear the preacher or the teacher, let me hide that word in my heart. Give me, Lord, a godly perspective to see what is ‘above all else.’
Author: Lindsay Hislop was raised in southern Scotland and southern Ontario and now lives in the southern United States. He worked in the engineering field for 15 years (mostly in Canada) before pursuing an academic career. He has taught for over thirty years at Columbia International University. He also serves as an elder in his church, where he teaches and preaches regularly. He is married to a wonderful wife Pam and has two terrific children, Holly, who lives in Canada, and Doug, who lives in Columbia. His four grandchildren, Isaac, Madeline, Lindsay, and Dolan, are also pretty special. He likes doing carpentry and odd jobs around the house.
