Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.** Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)**
Scripture teaches us that we are to daily watch our hearts and ways. Indeed, Paul writes to Timothy, his beloved son in the faith, these words we too should take to heart in 1 Timothy 4:16 (NIV): “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
There is so much deceitfulness in the human heart that it can entangle us in sin, defiling us quickly – finding us wallowing in wickedness before we even know it. It is important that we be aware and take care to flee from all evil, particularly when life gets easy and we begin coasting. Unfortunately, when this happens, we can find ourselves going downstream fast. And the longer we linger over sin, the easier it is to fall. Also, our impetuous natures hurry us towards sin. If we are not uber careful and “prayed up”, we can become entangled more readily.
There is a great propensity when things are going swimmingly well to forget God. Indeed, there is a dangerous influence of affluence. Sometimes we are pinched so hard and everything seems so difficult that we are tempted to fear or mistrust in our Lord Jesus to supply our needs. In times such as these we are called to exercise our faith and pray. Our prayers close the gap between our needs and our supplies. And God is most magnified and His goodness shines brightly when our needs are met. Yet, in times of affluence we are prone to wander and we tend to forget that God is the One Who has graciously supplied us with His goodness and mercy. It is most important not to forget this in plenty. As Scripture tells us: “For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV). Why, indeed?
Further, we are not to wallow in discontentment in our portions allotted. God is the Giver of ever good and perfect gift and knows fully and completely what we need as He created all things. Surely what is best for us is what God appoints – be it ever so difficult. He seeks to make us more and more like our Savior – the Lord Jesus and we are to desperately desire that end as well. One fine day we will understand this pristinely clearly. We need to seek to keep our hearts from being distracted by this world – and this is not easy as the world is often very loud and in our face yet God arrives most often in the lowly manger of a “gentle whisper”. To accomplish this God encourages us to look at the birds of the air who do not sow or reap or stow away in barns and yet God provides for them. Further, Jesus tells us we are much more valuable than they are. Contentment is an extremely valuable thing to learn. Augustine wrote: “God finds pleasure in us when we find pleasure in Him.”
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”** Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)**