Keep Thy Heart

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."  Proverbs 4:23.  From the heart are those thoughts that become deeds.  The source of all actions in our life is the heart.  Who we are in character is decided by the heart.  A good person has a good heart and an evil person has an evil heart.  The pure in body are the pure in heart.  Those who love have a loving heart.   All kindness and compassion flow from the heart.  The heart can be either light or dark.  The heart is a fountain that can be either bitter or sweet.  All truth and all error flows as a stream from the heart.  All the choices in life are made in the heart.  From the heart flows all the deeds that either serve or hinder.  Let us place a sentinel at the door of our heart.  Let us keep our heart from all disturbance and discouragement.  Let us keep our heart from all corruption and vileness.  Let us maintain a heart that is truthful and without any deceit. With all soberness and diligence keep the heart.  The very destiny of the soul is found in the heart.     

He Is Able To Keep You

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy."  Jude 24.  There is the danger that the Christian can fall from grace.  But, God helps us to serve Him.  God does not create a hedge about us that keeps the devil from tempting us nor does He prevent us from having to bear burdens.  The temptations of Satan and the burdens of life come to the child of God.  However, God does provide us with strength by His Spirit that enables us to know victory in those times when we are tempted to fall.  Also, there is always an escape route from temptation so that we might not sin.  But, God does nothing for man against the will of man.  Man is always in control of his destiny.  But, the child of God can always know that God helps us with the difficulties that we face.  With the help of God, we can live the Christian life faithfully and stedfastly.  We can have the sure confidence that God will present us faultless before His glory.  This is the reason why Jesus died and shed His blood for each of us.  Through the sacrifice which Jesus made on the cross, we can stand faultless before God.  This assurance brings joy to our hearts.  However, we must accept the help that God is willing to give unto His children so that God's everlasting glory can be achieved.  What a blessed thought to know that God is able to keep us.

Lest Ye Fall

"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."  I Corinthians 10:12.  The writer has used the ancient Israelites to show the danger that confronts the child of God.  God's people were delivered from the bondage of Egypt, but because of their failure to follow God's law, they fell in the wilderness.  Because of God's displeasure with them, they "were overthrown in the wilderness." verse 5.  Even as God's delivered people, they committed very vile transgressions.  We are warned that we must not follow their example.  We are reminded that what happened to them can also happen to us.  Sin is an ever present danger.  Sin is a danger to the child of God just as much as it is to the sinner.  God's child can so sin that he can fall.  We are to be in constant vigilance lest we fall.  Those who ascend the pinnacle of grace can fall from that pinnacle.  They who are washed in the blood of the lamb can turn back from their walk with God.  They who enjoy the "seal of the Spirit" can "grieve the Spirit" and also "quench the Spirit."  This action can cause the child of God to fall.  The danger sign is given that we must "take heed." 

Flee From Idolatry

"Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry."  I Corinthians 10:14.  The trumpet of warning is here sounded.  A danger threatens.  Satan is always seeking to deceive us.  There is a time to flee.  No form of evil is to be embraced.  The Christian is to serve but one God.  No room is to be made in the heart for anything else.  Idolatry is an ever present danger in any society.  Idolatry is the service that is paid to another god.  The gods that we can serve are legion.  We must flee.  God wants to abide in our heart.  God wants our total devotion.  Idols can remove God from His rightful place in our life.  We cannot serve God and idols.  No other master can live in our life.  Only God and His will are to control us.  There is to be no place for fame or pleasure.  Material gods cannot rule over us.  Things cannot consume us.  Service and homage paid to anything else becomes idolatry.  Idolatry can creep into the heart and take up residence.  We must be on guard against that which can remove us from God's fellowship.  Flee.  Flee.  Flee.   

The Sentence of Death

"But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead."  II Corinthians 1:9.  The sentence of death was from the enemies of the gospel.  Preaching Jesus was costly.  And so it is even in this time.  The cross of Jesus forever has opposition.  And so, our trust must not be in ourselves, but in God.  The enemies of truth continue to perish from the landscape of time, but new ones are born to replace them.  We face a continual battle.  We must trust a power that is greater than ourselves.  The sentence of death is upon all.  If we do fall by the sword of the enemy, we eventually give way to the decline of the flesh.  Our leader and master was taken and killed.  But, God raised Him up from the dead.  The greatest message that the world has ever and will ever hear is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is the hope that beats in the heart of the believer.  It is the drum beat of our faith.  So what if death comes and takes the last breath from our body.  What difference does it make in what manner the sentence of death is served?  Trust in God means the raising of the dead.  The sentence of death which separates the enemy of God from the faithful of God is the raising of the dead.  Those who trust in themselves die without hope.  Those who trust in the God who raises the dead travel under the sentence of death without fear and always hopeful of a new awakening.

The Progression of Evil

"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."  II Timothy 3:13.  Men will go forth with evil intentions in their heart seeking to seduce.  To seduce will be their desire.  These evil men will seek to bring others into their evil ways.  Evil uses deception.  Remember that Eve was deceived in the Garden of Eden.  Seducers will turn one's heart away from God.  Seducers will lead others into sin by deception.  They themselves have been deceived.  Lies and deception are the products of evil.  Evil grows and spreads at an alarming rate.  Evil corrupts and destroys.  Evil produces every vile act.  Evil violates all goodness and defiles all purity.  Evil lurks in every dark place seeking only to capture our heart.  Evil progresses and grows worse and worse.  We must be alert to the danger of evil and seduction.  We must not be deceived by the cloaks which evil wears.  Deception is a slippery slope, and we must walk with caution.   We must not be misled by those who would call evil good, and good evil.  Let us listen carefully to the voices which speak to us.  Let us consider well how we see and hear, and give care to the road which we travel.  Evil is seeking our heart.

Never Hunger And Never Thirst

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger: and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."  John 6:35.  There are many who want something, but are never willing to do what is required that they might have what they desire.  Many want what Jesus offers, but will not do those things that Jesus requires.  Jesus promises that those who come unto Him and believe on Him will never hunger nor thirst.  Jesus is all sufficient.  Jesus promises and will give all that is necessary for our happiness and fulfillment.  The offerings that He makes to us are not artificial.  The bread of life insures that we will never hunger or thirst.  The spiritual life is complete in Jesus.   Jesus is a Savior that is completely capable of providing for our spiritual well being.  But, we must come to Him.  We must see our need of Him.  We must know that our sufficiency is not of ourselves, but of Him.  We must believe on Him.  We must accept His offer with a heart of faith and surrender.  Jesus tells us who He is.  Jesus offers us the blessings of heaven that we need so that our souls might be sustained.  Will we not do what He asks that we might have what He offers?