DO NOT (PART 16) – GIVING YOUR HEART AWAY

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways, for an adulterous woman is a deep pit, and a wayward wife is a narrow well. Like a bandit she lies in wait and multiplies the unfaithful among men.

Proverbs 23:26-28          

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I think I can say with confidence that there isn’t a more powerful part of a human being than the heart. A quick survey of the Bible shows that the heart is mentioned in 725 verses far exceeding the head (482), feet (247), mouth (303), mind (163), and tongue (133).

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had this to say about the critical importance and nature of the heart:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21

The words of our Savior cause us to pause and reflect on the question, “What is my treasure?” It’s a question we need to consider carefully for the answer will dictate where our heart resides. If your treasure is in your possessions, then your heart will be there. If your treasure is your successes, then your heart will be found there. If your treasure is your family, then that’s where someone will find your heart.

The problem with any of these answers is that they result in our heart being grounded in the things of the world, the treasures of the earth. Jesus cautioned against this when He said:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:19-20

As we look at our series of “do not” cautions in the thirty Sayings of the Wise, we gain a bonus “do not” here in the words of Christ:

“Do not” store up for yourself treasures on earth.

These words so not make storing up treasures on earth and option. Jesus said, “Do not” and that means we are not to do it. Instead, we are to store up treasures in heaven, treasures that are eternal and sustaining.

So how do we do this? How do we store up treasures in heaven?

Go back to the earlier statement by Jesus for the solution:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We are not to store up treasures on earth and we are to store up treasures in heaven, and we can find our heart where our treasure is. To ensure our treasures are heavenly then we need to turn our heart to the One who is heavenly and perfectly divine in every way. We need to make Jesus our treasure.

Looking to Saying 18 of the thirty Sayings of the Wise, we find a precursor to the words of Jesus regarding our heart condition as it is related to who we connect to. Look at these words, not spoken by Solomon, but rather by God:

My son, give Me your heart and let your eyes delight in My ways, for an adulterous woman is a deep pit, and a wayward wife is a narrow well. Like a bandit she lies in wait and multiplies the unfaithful among men.  Proverbs 23:26-28          

The “do not” caution here is to do not give into lust and temptation from an adulterous woman who only brings a person into trouble, dragging a man into a deep pit of sin with her alluring call. The adulteress is after none other than the heart and so it’s no surprise that we find God commanding His son to give his heart to Him, an action that would lead the son to delight in His Father’s ways.

So who do you give your heart to? In what or who do you invest your heart?

We’ve heard from God the Father. We’ve heard from Jesus, His Son.

Our hearts are to be fully connected to them. He are to give our hearts away to them fully so that we might allow them to fill us up with love and righteousness and holiness, characteristics that will ensure we always are able to store up treasures in heaven because our hearts are connected to the greatest treasures we have in heaven in God our Father and Jesus, His Son and our Savior.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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