Handle with Care

Proverbs 4:23-27 “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.”

Have you ever received a package in the mail labeled FRAGILE HANDLE WITH CARE that looked like it had seen its better days?  It makes you wonder how it would have looked if it had not been labeled fragile.  The person mailing the package labeled it in the hope that it would be cared for with more care than if it were not labeled. 

While the words are different, the sentiment of Proverbs 4:23-27 is the same.  It is our warning to handle our hearts and lives with care.  God knows that the thoughts and intentions of men are always evil.  Genesis 6:5 “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.”

Left to our own devises we would all walk in selfish pride and seek pleasure and instant gratification at any cost.  This reality is played out throughout the Bible.  Over and over again we see mankind turning toward evil. 

Proverbs 4:23-27 is not the only warning passage found in the Word. http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/evil,-warnings-against lists 39 verses warning against sin and evil.  This is still a small representation.   As time will not permit a thorough search of the topic, I have chosen to use Proverbs 4:23-27 as a model on how to HANDLE OUR LIVES AND HEARTS WITH CARE. 

      

We are told in Proverbs 4 that our hearts determine the course of our life. 

We must maintain a holy jealousy of ourselves, and set a strict guard, accordingly, upon all the avenues of the soul; keep our hearts from doing hurt and getting hurt, from being defiled by sin and disturbed by trouble; keep them as our jewel, as our vineyard; keep a conscience void of offence; keep out bad thoughts; keep up good thoughts; keep the affections upon right objects and in due bounds.

Or, in general, all the actions of the life flow from the heart, and therefore keeping that is making the tree good and healing the springs. Our lives will be regular or irregular, comfortable or uncomfortable, according as our hearts are kept or neglected.  (Matthew Henry's Commentary)

Matthew Henry sums it up well.  The course and outcome of our lives will be determined on how well we keep our heart.  So how do we keep our hearts? 

Step 1: Stay away from perverse talk and corrupt speech.  Our mouths will speak what is found in our hearts.  

Luke 6:45 “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”  

Matthew 12:34 “You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.”

All manner of tongue sins, we must, by constant watchfulness and stedfast resolution, put from us, put far from us, abstaining from all words that have an appearance of evil and fearing to learn any such words. (Matthew Henry's Commentary)

Step 2: Guard our eyes.  Look straight ahead of us.  We need to keep spiritual blinders on our eyes. 

   

Blinders are small squares of firm leather that attach to the bridle at the side of the horse’s head. Some say that blinders were invented when a preacher had a wager with one of his friends. The preacher bet that his horse could walk up the stairs in his home, which the horse did with no problem at all. But, when he tried to coax the horse down again, it wouldn’t budge! So, the preacher covered the horses head and lead him down. He realized that covering all or part of the horse’s vision could encourage the horse to take chances it would not normally take.

Horses sometimes need to be made to focus and blinders keep the horse’s eye focused on what is ahead, rather than what is at the side or behind. That is why race horses are often given blinders – for the purpose of keeping them focused when racing round a racecourse. (Taken from http://parklaneequestrian.com/why-do-horses-wear-blinders/)

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith .Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”

As followers of Christ we are in a race.  We need to keep our focus on the Lord as we run.  If we allow our eyes to roam to the right or the left, we will be distracted and possible lose our way.  The enemy of our souls has many distractions that he places in our path.  His desire is to draw our attention away from our goal; finishing the race with holiness and integrity. 

Step 3: Mark out a straight path for our feet; stay on the safe path.

Matthew 7:13-14 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”

Following Christ is not easy.  The journey is fraught with trials, temptations, and testings.  We often feel like Chippie in the following story!

Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.

The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She had barely said hello when shhhooopp! Chippie got sucked in. The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie; still alive, but stunned. Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering. She did what any compassionate bird owner would do; she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air. Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

A few days after the trauma, the reporter – who had initially written about the event –contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. “Well,” she replied, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore he just sits and stares.” It is hard not to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over. That is enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart (Max Lucado)!

Whether we are sucked in, washed up, or blown over, if we are walking hand-in-hand with Christ, staying on the narrow path, he will be with us, and unlike Chippie, Jesus will keep the song in our heart.    Hebrews 13:5b For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”  1 Peter 5:7”Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”

Step 4: Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil. We must not participate in anything that will sidetrack us from the path.   

1 Thessalonians 5:22”Stay away from every kind of evil.”

Proverbs 4:14-15 “Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers. Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way. Turn away and keep moving.”

We must remember that we are not doing this alone.  We must partner with Jesus in handling our hearts.  Christ is always with us.  If we are focused on him he will keep us in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”), he will give us the power to resist the devil (James 4:7 “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.), and he will guide our steps (Psalm 119:133 “Guide my steps by your word, so I will not be overcome by evil.).

This heart belongs to a child of the King of Kings: FRAGILE HANDLE WITH CARE!

All Scripture is NLT unless otherwise stated.