The Gift of a Sound Heart

I was reading in Proverbs recently and the words "a sound heart" leapt off the page at me. I began to mull it around a bit asking the question, what would that look like? This is usually where my mind goes on a hiking trail and I might as well follow along. There is no use doing anything else until it reaches its conclusion. So off I went to find God's meaning of this statement.

Proverb 14:30 A sound heart is life to the body; but envy is rottenness to the bones.

I know from other exploration that the bible speaks of having a sound mind in the terms of stability and sanity. But what about this sound heart concept. What could this mean?

Feeling that I had just stumbled upon another small gem that the bible seems to have an abundance of, I began to feel the excitement well up inside me. You know the feeling when you know there’s an "ah ha" moment around the corner.

Of course, God’s word didn't disappoint, here’s the "ah ha" that He revealed to me.

Just as we are to have a sound mind, we are also to have a sound heart. Sound as in firm, stable or secure. Sound meaning it’s based on truth or valid reasoning. Just as what we put in our mind should be based on truth and sound reasoning, what we allow to take hold of our heart should be also.

There is a difference between knowing something in our mind and knowing it in our heart. We live out of our heart. We love out of our heart. All that we are comes from the heart we carry. So it would make a lot of sense to guard our heart from becoming unsound.

Everything we put in our heart affects every part of our body. It is a known fact that stress and worry cause the body to fail and become sick. If we live out of our heart then it is what gives good life to the whole body.

We may not always be able to guard our eyes from seeing things unwise for us. We may not always have control of what enters our mind. What we do have control of though is what we allow to be transferred to our hearts.

I Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful , who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

It is when we take it into our hearts that the temptation becomes more than we can bear. We are provided a way out, we are provided that moment to turn away. If we do not take the way of escape provided by God in the moment and stay to long, we risk taking it into our heart. This is what then can start a process of destruction in out lives.

We are told to keep our hearts sound, free from sin and destruction. When we do, we can follow God with a freedom and beauty that is only from God Himself.

Just like we must pray for the transformation to take place in our minds, we must also pray for the same transformation to occur in our hearts. As in all things, it is God Himself who changes who we are and molds us into His own image.

Lord,

Create in us not only a sound mind full of your thoughts but also a sound heart. Protect our hearts from being infiltrated by the ugly vices of life. Instead, create in us a clean and pure heart, one that is sound and filled with your love.

Amen