We’ve all heard it said: Follow your heart. And while this is not always bad advice – it is not altogether always good. Following an unguarded heart will most certainly knock us out of phase and ultimately, if not corrected, lead us to ruin. If we truly believe Scripture to be the Holy Word of God, then a verse that includes the phrase “above all else” is certainly one to heed.

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23 NLT

Our heart determines our course: in other words, it is our heart that determines whether our life is in phase or out. Left to our own devices, humans are selfish creatures. The prophet Jeremiah spoke to this fact in a very direct and sobering verse;

The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Jeremiah 17:9 NLT

So, how do we guard our heart (or, in the parlance of this blog series, keep our heart in phase)? Jesus gave us the answer in the Book of Matthew:

“Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him, because it does not enter his heart, but it goes into the stomach and then is eliminated.” (Thus all foods are clean.)

He continued:

“What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him. For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man.” (emphasis added) Matthew 15:18-23 Berean Standard Bible

“From within the heart of men comes evil thoughts.” So, in order to guard our hearts, we also need to guard our minds, or as the Apostle Paul wrote, we “take captive every thought.”

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV

So, to keep our heart in phase, we must also keep our mind in phase, and ultimately, it is through the renewing of our mind through the Word of God that we can do this.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:10 NASB